Amsterdam mayor confirms: No fines for cannabis smoking ban, cops intervened 700 times

Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema confirmed on Thursday that authorities have yet to issue a single fine to individuals accused of violating the ban on smoking cannabis in the old city center. The ban took effect on May 25, and since then, the police and other city security personnel witnessed 753 violations of the policy, as of September 7.

In those 753 incidents, authorities spoke to those alleged to have violated the policy a total of 709 times. The other 44 cases resulted in the issuance of an official warning, the mayor said in a letter to City Council. On Tuesday, Parool first reported that Amsterdam had not issued a single fine for smoking weed on the Red Light District streets in the three months since the ban’s implementation.

Halsema pointed out that the primary objective of the ban is not to alter Amsterdam's reputation as a "drug destination" but to reduce disturbances in public spaces. “This goal is achieved when smoking [cannabis] stops in public places,” she wrote. She explained that the initial approach is always to ask the individual to stop, with a fine being a last resort. This approach seems to be working, and therefore fines are not necessary.

"When an intervention is made, it is typically followed by a conversation where the ban on smoking is explained, and a request is made to extinguish and put away the joint. This is often enough to stop the violation," she wrote.

Halsema also said that authorities handed out 11 warnings from the start of the ban through the end of July, a period covering roughly nine weeks. In the five weeks that followed, a total of 33 warnings were issued. That means that since the enforcement strategy was first called into question, the number of warnings issued rose from one every six days, to nearly one warning per day.

VVD Council Member Claire Martens-America raised the issue at the end of July. It was already known at that point that the ban was not being enforced with a priority on issuing fines. "The Amsterdam VVD wonders to what extent the smoking ban is effective and effective, since no fines have yet been issued. The measure - which was introduced after complaints from residents about the structural and excessive nuisance of mass tourism and public drug use - should contribute to reducing nuisance in the De Wallen," Martens-America wrote at the time.

The ban on smoking weed on the city center streets is intended to improve the quality of life in the Red Light District and make it less attractive to tourists. Anyone caught lighting up a joint or smoking a bowl on the street can be fined 100 euros. The ban applies to the entire De Wallen area, including the Red Light District, and extends to Dam Square, Damrak and Nieuwmarkt.

"As far as the VVD is concerned, drug tourism should be a thing of the past. We must do everything we can to get rid of the image as a drug capital," Martens-America wrote in July.

Halsema countered that on Thursday, noting that some of the people approached by authorities were residents, not tourists.