The Netherlands Drug Situation 2010 - Trimbos-instituut

Over half (53%) of the coffee shops is located in the six big cities with over 200 thousandinhabitants.The reduction from 2008 to 2009 can be explained in part by the closure of 16 coffeeshops in Rotterdam, which did not comply with the minimal distance criterion toschools, and the closure of (all) 8 coffee shops in Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal.Moreover, coffee shops were closed because the municipality applies an 'extinctionpolicy' or because they have violated the regulations (see later).Figure 10.1.1 Trend in the number of coffee shops in the NetherlandsNo separate data for the major cities available for 2008 and 2009. Source: Bieleman & Nijkamp, 2010Coffee shops have to comply to rules. They are not allowed to advertise, to have harddrugs or youth under 18 in their shops, to cause nuisance, to sell more than 5 gramsto a customer or to have a stock of 500 grams of cannabis or more. Bieleman & Nijkamp(2010) sent a questionnaire on the compliance to these rules to civil servants in155 municipalities that had a maximum policy or no specific policy with regard to the(number of) coffee shops. Over 40% of the municipalities indicate to give one or othercriterion priority. These are – in order of importance – no minors in coffee shops,followed at distance by the 'no hard drug criterion' and the maximum stock criterion.In 67 of the 105 municipalities with coffee shops in 2009 additional criteria have beenapplied (e.g. with regard to distance between coffee shops and national border, barsor youth establishments). Seventy-seven percent of the municipalities with coffeeshops used a minimum distance criterion to schools (generally 250 metres), but thisis generally only effectuated with regard to new coffee shops. According to the civilservants, the AHOJ_G criteria were violated 44 times in 2009, which os half the num-144