A new ordinance will help administrators control smoking near school grounds

Dec 13, 2012 07:52 GMT  ·  By
A new ordinance in Amsterdam will help administrators control smoking near school grounds
   A new ordinance in Amsterdam will help administrators control smoking near school grounds

Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan is planning a ban on pot. He is not set out to forbid it altogether, but sets out to enforce better control over smoking near school grounds.

Smoking marijuana is not 100% legal in the Netherlands, but, as long as the smoker has in his or her possession small amounts of the recreational drug, they cannot be charged.

On school grounds and playgrounds, the consumption or smoking of marijuana is strictly forbidden. However, in recent years, students have found a way around the ban. Christian Post writes that they smoke near the school, and are already drugged as they arrive to class.

School administrators struggle with controlling them, as they do not comply with the punishments they try to enforce.

“It's not really what you have in mind as an educator, that children would be turning up for class stoned, or drunk either for that matter. But it has been a problem for some schools,” city spokeswoman Iris Reshef says in a statement.

Officials announced that passing new regulations would equate in banning marijuana not only in schools, but in several other public places as well. The new public nuisance ordinance will target all smoking that creates discomfort for residents or interferes with public safety.

Recently, the Dutch government has legalized the “weed pass,” a permit allowing tourists to purchase cannabis as well.

Pot has become legal in Washington State in the U.S., a month after the elections, on Thursday, December 6. The next day, two men were shot in a drug-related incident. It appears they were attempting to rob the house of an alleged marijuana grower.

U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan stated that “growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law.”