DUTCH TOWN'S DRUG SHOPS WIN VOTE

VENLO, the Netherlands, May 31 (Reuters) — This Dutch town has approved
plans to open coffee shops out of town and not far from the German border
in a bid to keep thousands of German drug tourists away from its center,
local officials said today.

The new shops, called "drug drive-throughs" by Venlo residents, will cater
to the growing army of German tourists who cross the border to buy drugs
that can be sold legally and used in small quantities in Dutch coffee
shops, which frequently offer numerous varieties of cannabis.

Elke Haanraadts, a Venlo town planner and spokeswoman for the project,
admitted that the measure was intended to keep foreign drug tourists out.

"I think that the German people coming especially for their five grams of
soft drugs will benefit," she said. "It's easier for them to buy it near
the road and then go back again to Germany."

Venlo municipal officials estimate that about five million German people
are within driving distance of the town, which is just over a mile from the
border. And in recent years, thousands have crossed the border daily to
take advantage of liberal regulations on drugs in the Netherlands. Germany
has substantially tougher laws and has in the past blamed its neighbor for
an increase in its own drug problems.

Plans for the coffee shops, which are expected to open next year, were
approved at a council meeting late on Wednesday.