"Marijuana for everyone" in the coffee shops of Amsterdam

The mayor of Amsterdam rejected a law that would have banned foreigners from using cannabis in the city's coffee shops.

The Dutch government has started implementing that law in the southern provinces of the country.

A ban on the use of drugs for tourists was implemented in three provinces earlier this year and is intended to be extended to the rest of the country, including Amsterdam, by 2013, the Associated Press reports.

"One and a half million tourists will not say "then no more marijuana"

However, the mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan, said that 220 coffee shops in Amsterdam, "where marijuana and hashish are openly sold and consumed", will remain open for the next year, writes the New York Times.

Consequences of the ban

Van der Laan told the Dutch newspaper "de Volkskrant" that he made his decision after considering the consequences that the ban would bring, including the revival of the black market.

Amsterdam also relies on tourism, with cannabis users making up about a third of the city's visitors

"One and a half million tourists will not say, 'then no more marijuana,' but will spread around the city looking for drugs," said Van der Laan, who has previously opposed the ban.

"It would lead to more robberies and the absence of drug quality control on the market, everything we worked for would disappear".

Amsterdam also relies on tourism, with cannabis users making up about a third of the city's visitors.

Cannabis is "technically" banned in the Netherlands, but in 1976 the state decriminalized possession of less than five grams of the drug.