Tourists Can Smoke Pot in Amsterdam After All

Mayor rejects law to ban use in coffee shops
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 2, 2012 9:45 AM CDT
Tourists Can Smoke Pot in Amsterdam After All
In this April 20 file photo, a protester smokes a joint in Amsterdam during a protest against a government plan to stop foreigners from buying marijuana in the Netherlands.   (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

Vice-seeking tourists won't have to give up on pilgrimages to Amsterdam for weed: The city is ditching plans to bar tourists from smoking the stuff in the city's coffee shops. The Netherlands' incoming government left the decision to local authorities, and Amsterdam's mayor opposes it. Such a restriction would prompt tourists to "swarm all over the city looking for drugs," says Eberhard van der Laan. The city gets 1.5 million tourists per year looking for pot, Sky News reports. (More Amsterdam stories.)

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