Café owners and others have banded together and this month will appeal a Hague District Court decision that limits sales of drugs to Dutch residents over the age of 18, says the AP.
The government argues that the move is justified as a way of cracking down on traffic and public order problems caused by "drug tourists," many of whom are couriers who drive over the border from neighboring Belgium and Germany to buy large amounts of marijuana and take it home to resell, the AP reports.
"Such problems are virtually nonexistent in Amsterdam where the small, smoke-filled coffee shops are visited by thousands of tourists each year — mostly youngsters who consider smoking a joint to be part of the essential Amsterdam experience alongside visiting cultural highlights like the Van Gogh museum and the canals," adds the AP.
Like marijuana itself, the ban in the meantime is still up in the air.
By David Wilkening
