AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) The Dutch tolerance toward selling and smoking
marijuana does not extend to the country's biggest bank.

ABN AMRO is ordering cafes where marijuana and hashish are openly sold
commonly known as ``coffee shops'' to deposit their cash elsewhere.

The bank's head office ordered all 225 of its Dutch branches to close
accounts held by the officially tolerated cafes on the grounds that the sale
of such drugs is still illegal in the Netherlands.

``We think it's no longer desirable to be in business with coffee shops,
because what they do is after all a punishable offense,'' a spokesman said
Thursday on customary condition of anonymity.

He refused to say how many coffee shops bank with ABN AMRO or the value of
their accounts.

Although the sale and consumption of marijuana remains illegal in the
Netherlands, authorities tolerate it as long as it's limited to small
quantities.