[420 Girl]

Every week 13,500 French and Belgian nationals flock to Roosendaal to buy marijuana from the town's four so-called coffee shops. Nearby Bergen op Zoom has an estimated 12,000 drugs tourists a week.

Both towns say they have made “futile attempts” to control the problems caused by the drugs trade, such as traffic congestion, petty crime and street dealing.

The impending ban means Roosendaal and Bergen op Zoom are overturning the national policy of tolerating the sale of small quantities of cannabis under controlled conditions.

"We are not offering the owners a buy-out. But we can look into whether or not we can relieve them of their long term rental contracts," Roosendaal's mayor Michel Marijnen (Christian Democrat) told NRC. Mayors of both towns personally told the owners on Thursday afternoon. The council expects it to be February at least before the coffee shops can be closed because of appeals and legal action.

Until the shops are closed, the councils will tighten up their local drug policies, reducing the amount of marijuana a coffee shop can have in stock from 500 grammes (the national guideline) to 300 grammes. Customers will only be allowed to buy 2 grammes each. Nationally, the police turn a blind eye to the possession of up to 5 grammes.

An investigation by the institute for security and crisis management COT shows that 9 out of 10 soft drugs tourists buy from the so-called coffee shops, not from street dealers or other illegal sources.

The cabinet is already looking at ways to reduce drugs tourism following complaints from Belgium and Germany. In March, health minister Ab Klink gave into pressure from members of parliament and agreed to carry out a review into 30 years of Holland's liberal drugs laws.

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