“Coffeeshops undermine the legitimate society”

The new mantra of the Amsterdam Triangle. On Thursday 28 January, the city council provided comments on the management plan presented to the council by Amsterdam Mayor Halsema (read: the Triangle) on 8 January.

The management plan “towards a manageable cannabis market” includes a component of the approach to reducing (mass) tourism to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, for the umpteenth time, coffeeshops are pointed to as one of the main drivers of that tourism (and specifically of the so-called “low-value” tourism of which public opinion claims that “Amsterdam does not earn a cent from it, but only experiences nuisance”).

These arrows have been aimed at coffeeshops for 15/20 years now, so that in the meantime a large number of coffeeshops have already been closed. And that without any influence on a decrease in tourism. On the contrary, due to all sorts of factors, tourism – far removed from coffeeshops – has only increased gigantically.

With the management plan, the Triangle introduces a completely new arrow in the fight against tourism, a POISON ARROW as if coffeeshops were disrupting society! It is on the basis of that dogma that the Amsterdam Triangle still wants to get the I-Criterion (Residents Criterion) introduced. Something that failed to pass in a previous council meeting in October by a majority in the council.

It is a new line of reasoning based on the mantra of the national police and Justice policy that started in 2010 under the government of VVD, CDA and tolerance partner PVV:

“The underworld undermines the upper-world”! It is this mantra that the Amsterdam Triangle is adapting to its own ends: “If we now count the coffeeshops as part of that underworld, logic dictates that due to the increased tourism, Amsterdam coffeeshops earn A LOT of money. Ergo, the coffeeshops cause A LOT of undermining of the legitimate society!”

It is this logic in the management plan upon which the introduction of the I-criterion is defended with, in the eyes of the Triangle, only winners: BOTH no more misery from that horde of low-value drug tourists, who – drunk, smoking, noisy and vomiting – are “trashing” the Amsterdam World Heritage site, AND less undermining of the upper-world by those damn “underworld” coffeeshops.

It is commendable that the left-wing council members were able to put the Triangle's management plan “on pause” for further deliberation. Aside from the fact that I did not find the arguments for this very strong, this is at least a (small) positive result.

And finally, what I want to say is that coffeeshops have nothing to do with undermining, but rather contribute to the fight against undermining. Regardless of the definition of what is understood by “underworld” and “upper-world”, the coffeeshop sector ensures that, in contrast to foreign countries, the income from the sale of cannabis is immediately converted into the regular national and local economy. Not to mention regular employment, payment of (payroll) taxes for staff, employment for local contractors, plumbers, supply companies for the hospitality industry, etc., etc.

For example, The Bulldog has a beautiful hotel, and many coffeeshop owners have helped with innovative research into the effects of CBD in recent years, which regular pharmacies such as Kruidvat and Jacob Hooy are now gratefully benefiting from. So, how is that undermining?

The coffeeshop is not a necessary evil but a necessary good for social/economic relations in Dutch society. Coffeeshops play an essential role in managing the sale and consumption of cannabis.

August de Loor,

Amsterdam, 4 February 2021