EU court backs Dutch town over closure of cannabis cafe to tourists

A DUTCH town was right in refusing to let foreigners buy cannabis, Europe's highest court said in a ruling that will help the national government's plans to curb sales of the drug to tourists.

The European Court of Justice ruled yesterday that the mayor of Maastricht - a town near the German and Belgian borders and not far from France - was right to close a coffee shop selling cannabis to non-residents.

"A prohibition on admitting non-residents to coffee shops constitutes a measure capable of substantially limiting drug tourism and, consequently, reducing the problems it causes," the Luxembourg-based court said in its judgment.

The owner of the Easy Going coffee shop had asked for a decision taken by the town's mayor in 2005 to stop foreigners buying drugs in the town's cafes to be overturned.

The Dutch government plans to introduce a similar system nationwide, but a Dutch court still needs to give a final ruling on the Maastricht case next year.

The Netherlands is the only country in the EU where soft drug sales are tolerated. Possession of soft drugs for personal use has been decriminalised, and their sale, though prohibited by law, is tolerated in the coffee shops.