Keeping coffeshops at a distance from schools won't prevent young smokers from buying cannabis, Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen admitted on Tuesday.

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/dutch-politicians-clash-over-coffee-shops-near-schools

Dutch 'coffeeshops' are allowed to sell small amounts of cannabis - for actual coffee you want akoffiehuis or a café. “Youngsters intent on going to a coffeeshop will not be deterred by a few extra metres, ” Mr Cohen told the nrc.next daily.

He was responding to a radio interview with Christian Democrat MP Pieter van Geel, who called Mayor Cohen’s reluctance to enforce a minimum 250-metre distance between schools and coffeeshops “incomprehensible”.

250-metre rule
In 2008, local councils agreed to ban coffeeshops within a 250 metre-radius of schools and take other measures designed to restrict coffeeshop access to school children.

The agreement led to the closure of 27 coffeeshops in the city of Rotterdam. In Amsterdam, 43 coffeeshops are currently situated within a 250-metre walking distance from schools and enforcing the regulation would mean all of these would have to be wound up.

Given that there's no majority support for the ban within the Amsterdam city council, Mayor Cohen announced last week that would like to explore other options.

Criticism
The announcement triggered a barrage of criticism from the Christian Democrat Party, both on a local and national level. On Sunday, MP Pieter van Geel told public broadcaster Radio 1: “Amsterdam can be obstinate if they like, but on this matter their obstinacy is totally unacceptable.”

Members of the Christian Union, the junior partner in the three-party government coalition, aren't happy either with the fact that Mayor Cohen is looking at alternatives. In last Saturday's Parool newspaper, they accused him of sabotaging the 2008 agreement.

Third parties
Mayor Cohen, however, refuses to budge: “A survey among both teachers and teenagers proves that creating distance between schools and coffeeshops is not an effective solution to the problem,” he was quoted as saying, adding that “Amsterdam’s coffeeshops have an age restriction and this restriction is strictly enforced… most teenagers obtain soft drugs through third parties, and do not go to coffee shops directly themselves.”