dude, where's my free trade?

European Court Weighs Dutch Cannabis Ban for Foreigners

The Dutch government wants to ban cannabis sales to foreigners, but coffee shops in Holland argue that it's a violation of EU free-trade regulations. The European Court of Justice will now decide.

(...) Arguing for the European Commission, Van der Vliet referred to an earlier ruling by the ECJ concerning Polish prostitutes in the Netherlands. In that case, the court ruled that a member states could not apply one set of business laws to its own citizens and another set to other EU nationals. "The European Commission does not oppose a test case in itself," he said. "But why haven't less far-reaching measures been tried first, such as a customer-card system, reducing the maximum amount available to single customers or requiring customers to consume purchased wares on the spot?"

The judges expressed surprise over the Dutch drug policy. They asked what the coffee shop's permit was for exactly, if the sale of cannabis was technically illegal in the Netherlands. The court also wondered who supplied the drugs on sale to the coffee shop. The state perhaps?

Há umas pérolas lá pelo meio, incluindo a hipótese de criar cartões de cliente. Obviamente estavam sob o efeito do produto, senão tinham-se lembrado disso antes de recorrer ao tribunal...