


The new regulation reins in one of the country's most cherished symbols of tolerance _ its laissez-faire attitude toward soft drugs _ and reflects the drift away from a long-held view of the Netherlands as a free-wheeling utopia.




"I think it's going to be a shame for Amsterdam, I think it's going to lose a lot of tourists," Harrison said.




If the government gets its way, the pass will roll out in the rest of the country _ including Amsterdam _ next year. It will turn coffee shops into private clubs with membership open only to Dutch residents and limited to 2,000 per shop.






Many Amsterdam residents agree.


"If you make it so that tourists can't buy weed in a coffee shop, then they're going to buy it on the street. So you add more problems than you solve," she said.

Her friend Nina Fokker, an actress, also worried about what the ban portends for the Netherlands' image as an open-minded society.

Tolerance "is something beautiful, it has something special, it has something that's authentic about the Netherlands," she said.


Therese Ariaans of the Dutch tourism board said it was hard to judge the effect on tourism _ it could reduce visits from people wanting to smoke pot but increase tourists previously kept away by Amsterdam's seedy side.

"If the result is that there will be fewer visitors to the Netherlands we would regret that," she said.

Amsterdam argues that the reasons coffee shops were first tolerated decades ago are still relevant today _ they are well-regulated havens where people can buy soft drugs without coming into contact with dealers of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine.





However the Dutch government collapsed this week and new elections are scheduled for September. It's unclear whether the new administration will keep the new measures in place.

Coffee shop lawyer Veldman called Friday's ruling a political judgment.




"It's a recession," he said. "Maybe it's a publicity stunt as well _ get people to come over in a mad rush before it happens."


Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands.