"Criminologist: Coffeeshops will disappear within two years" is the lead headline in today's Trouw. Henk van de Bunt, professor of criminology at Erasmus University, argues that the Netherlands cannot continue to tolerate the existence of coffeeshops and the sale of soft drugs because of "international opposition". He says the policy was only a temporary measure and it was "inevitable" that towns near the Belgian border would decide to close their coffeeshops.

Most of today's papers focus on the controversy generated by the recent proposal by Pieter van Geel, leader of the Christian Democrat parliamentary party, to crack down on coffeeshops. The Christian Democrats (CDA) held their annual convention on Saturday and De Volkskrant reports that Mr Van Geel "received loud applause" after saying: "Forwards to zero coffeeshops". The left-wing daily comments, "the CDA's attack on coffeeshops and soft drugs has seriously annoyed their Labour coalition partner."

Trouw writes that the CDA leader "needled the Labour Party when he proposed closing all coffee shops and ending the toleration of soft drugs".  "The mafia in the United States was founded thanks to prohibition"
 
Shortly afterwards, Mr van Geel was forced to admit that his party would abide by the terms of the coalition accord that stated there would be no change to existing policies regarding soft drugs during the current term.
De Telegraaf covered the news in its Sunday edition, reporting that Dutch police chiefs are opposed to closing coffeeshops. The CDA mayor of Maastricht, who is "fervently opposed" to shutting them, says, "The mafia in the United States was founded thanks to prohibition."
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