DUTCH APPROVE COFFEE AND POT FOR GERMAN TOURISTS

VENLO, Netherlands (Reuters) - The Dutch border town of Venlo has approved
plans to open out-of-town coffee shops not far from Germany in a bid to
keep thousands of German drug tourists out of its center, local officials
said on Thursday.

Dubbed as "drug drive-throughs" by the locals, the new coffee shops will
cater to the growing army of German tourists who flock across the border.

Soft drugs can be bought 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 the measure aimed at keeping foreign drug tourists out.

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

Venlo city officials estimate that some five million German people are
within striking distance of the town, which is just over a mile from the
border.

In recent years, thousands have crossed the border daily to take advantage
of the liberal Dutch drugs regime.

Germany has substantially tougher laws and has in the past blamed the
Netherlands for an increase in its own drugs problems.

Plans for the new out-of-town coffee shops were approved at a council
meeting late on Wednesday. The new establishments are expected to open at
the start of next year.

Haanraadts told Reuters Television that in excess of 60 illegal coffee
shops had sprung up to cater for the tourists. Local residents have
complained that a climate of fear is being cultivated by drug-pushers.

"We get a lot of letters from people who are really sick of the feeling of
fear and people hanging around their houses and making a lot of noise," she
said.