The rise of so-called 'pot tourism' in the Netherlands prompted a change in the country's drug laws but residents in Maastricht say the crackdown has led to an increase in the number of street dealers.
The Netherlands had hoped to stamp out street peddling in the 1970s by launching a policy of tolerating ‘coffee shops’ where people could buy and smoke marijuana freely.
But it decided to ban anyone who didn’t live in the country from buying the drug because of a rise in ‘pot tourists’ who were visiting simply to smoke marijuana.
Defiant: The Easy Going cafe has been shut for months as its owner refuses to adhere to the Dutch-only rule
Maastricht's locals say the dealers have returned following a crackdown, and are creating a 'darker' atmosphere in the border town.
The county's central government clampdown banned people who live outside the Netherlands from coffee shops and closed any shops deemed to be too close to schools.
There was even a short-lived policy that said smokers had to apply for a 'Weed Pass' to get into a coffee shop.
The new rules were rolled out across the country between the middle of 2012 and the beginning of last year. But it is up to local municipalities to enforce them - and most are embracing only part of the policy.
Amsterdam - with some 200 licensed coffee shops, one-third of the nationwide total - still lets foreigners visit them, although it is closing coffee shops that are near schools.
Darker atmosphere: Maastricht has embraced the crackdown but locals say it's led to a rise in street dealers
But Maastricht has fully embraced the crackdown. Its mayor, Onno Hoes, said he enforced the legislation to halt a daily influx of thousands of foreigners who crossed the borders to stock up on pot at its 14 coffee shops.
The effort to end so-called 'drug tourism' has been successful, local residents say, but the flip side has been a rise in street dealers.
Carol Berghmans lives close to the River Maas and sees dealers each day as he walks his dog.
Crackdown: Holland has banned anyone who doesn't live in the country from buying marijuana
He said that there were problems before the crackdown as cars filled with pot tourists poured into the cobbled streets of central Maastricht - but he described the atmosphere as 'gezellig', a Dutch word that loosely translates as cozy or convivial.
But, since coffee shops were banned from selling to non-residents, Mr Berghmans said the numbers of foreigners has dried up and atmosphere in town had turned darker as street dealers aggressively badgered potential clients and fought amongst themselves.
‘Now the drug runners are trying to sell on the street to anyone,’ he told Associated Press. ‘They are bothering everybody.'
Maastricht city spokesman Gertjan Bos said the problem of street dealing is not new, but conceded that it has become more visible since the city’s crackdown reduced the number of drug tourists.
'We have a feeling our approach is working,' Bos said, 'but we do still have to work on the street dealers.'
Easy Going coffee shop, in a street linking Maastricht’s historic market square with the Maas, has been shut for months as its owner, Marc Josemans, refuses to adhere to the rule about selling only to Dutch residents. 'I won’t discriminate,' he said.
Mr Josemans is fighting a legal battle against the new rules and expects the Dutch Supreme Court to issue a ruling soon on whether turning away non-Dutch residents is constitutional.
Tourist draw: Amsterdam's coffee shops continue to welcome foreigners with open arms
Experts also question the Dutch policy change. August de Loor runs a bureau in Amsterdam that gives drug advice aimed at minimising health risks for users as well as testing party drugs such as ecstasy for purity.
He said coffee shops once played an important role not only in keeping cannabis users away from hard drugs like heroin, but also educating them about safely using pot and providing a meeting place for people who would rather smoke a joint than drink a beer.
'That special element of the Dutch model makes coffee shops unique in the world,' he said, 'and that is gradually fading away.'
Jo Smeets, a former coffee shop worker in Maastricht, complained that his neighborhood had been overrun by dealers since the city’s crackdown. The dealers, he says, sell drugs on the streets to people who previously would have bought in tightly controlled coffee shops: 'Now they can buy more and they can buy hard drugs from the same dealers.'
Legal high: A marijuana menu in a coffee shop in Amsterdam
Amsterdam’s coffee shops, by contrast, continue to welcome foreigners. The main difference between the two cities is the type of tourist they attract.
In Maastricht, foreigners drive over the border, visit a coffee shop and drive back on the same day.
In Amsterdam, tourists mostly arrive by plane or train, stay in a hotel and visit museums and restaurants - as well as dropping in on a coffee shop - plowing far more cash into the city.
Shawn Stabley, a 49-year-old, musician and IT director from York, Pennsylvania, has been visiting Amsterdam for 20 years to celebrate Thanksgiving.
He is a regular visitor to the Dutch Flowers coffee shop on Amsterdam’s historic Singel canal and says he doesn't plan to stop the tradition now, even if he can buy pot closer to home in Denver or Seattle.
'Every window is picturesque,' Stabley said, 'and coming here to places that serve hash and marijuana just enhances that and prolongs it.'
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