Terneuzen, Holland: Local municipal officials are reportedly considering a plan to auction off licenses for the so-called ‘coffee shops’, the small shops that are permitted to sell marijuana and hashish, in the border town of Terneuzen, across from Belgium on the southwestern tip of The Netherlands.
According to the local paper, between 2,000 and 3,000 customers visit the local shops each day, and many of them are visitors from Belgium and France. The level of business has become an inconvenience for locals, who now have to pay for parking spaces. According to a local Labour Party city alderman, this would permit the town to create new jobs as well as raise millions of dollars for civic improvements to compensate local citizens for the inconvenience.
The problems created by the so-called ‘drug tourists’ has been an issue in other border towns in Holland, where the coffee shops are licensed and tolerated by the Dutch government, although technically they are not legal.