Weekend party bans for fake drug dealers

The City of Amsterdam will impose exclusion orders on dealers who sell fake drugs in the late night entertainment districts Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein. Dealers who parade disguise flour or detergent as cocaine will receive a weekend ban from the square. Police say that the nuisance caused by these so-called “fake dealers” has substantially increased in recent months, pushing the municipality to act. Those scam artists who are arrested between Thursday and Sunday evening will in the districts will be banned from the area until 12:01 a.m. Monday. Leidseplein's community liaison Robert Sperling complained about these dealers to the municipality back in April, saying that there was little he felt he could do about the issue. "The police want to intervene, but their hands and feet are tied," Sperling told newspaper Het Parool. "Selling fake drugs is not a crime, and the dealers are right back on the street." Tourists are the most vulnerable to drug fraud and bare the brunt of the criminal trade, according to Rembrandtplein community liaison Ernst Weidema. Heavy regulations have previously been applied in the Red Light District, where nuisance dealers receive a month-long ban.