US rapper Nicki Minaj was arrested at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport on Saturday on suspicion of exporting “soft drugs” according to authorities.
However, the Bad Barbie rapper’s response highlights how misunderstood the Netherland’s policy on drugs is by tourists.
The American musician was due to hold a concert in Manchester, England, when police found cannabis in her bags as she was preparing to leave the country.
Dutch police confirmed to ABC that they had “arrested a 41-year-old American woman at Schiphol airport because of possession of soft drugs,” but would not release a name.
“After consultation with the Public Prosecution Service, the suspect was fined and can continue her journey.”
Unfortunately, she was not in time to make her concert, cancelling the show at the last minute with 20 000 attendees already in the venue.
“Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, the events of today have made it impossible,” concert promoter Live Nation said, adding the performance would be postponed.
The WAP star who was due in the UK went on a social media tirade, claiming that marijuana was found in some of her luggage and the luggage had been offloaded so her “pre-rolls” — a term for marijuana cigarette — could be weighed.
“This is Amsterdam btw, where weed is legal,” she mistakenly claimed.
This illustrates a commonly held myth among international visitors that cannabis is legal in the Netherlands.
The unique “toleration policy” on “soft drugs” has helped establish a large drug tourism market, particularly in Amsterdam.
According to the Government of the Netherlands there is a policy not to prosecute some substances considered to be “less damaging” to focus on other policing issues.
“The sale of soft drugs in coffee shops is a criminal offence but the Public Prosecution Service does not prosecute coffee shops for this offence,” reads the official advice.
Members of the public with less than 5 grams of cannabis or with fewer than five planes are unable to be prosecuted under Dutch law.
However, this does not mean that it is legal.
Since the 1976 Opium Act the “Gedoogbeleid” or tolerance policy has seen drugs tourism explode in parts of the Netherlands, particularly the coffee shops.
According to the UN World Tourism Organisation more than a quarter of international tourists to Amsterdam (26 per cent) visited at least one dispensary shop.
But there is a sense that tolerance is wearing thin among some parts of the Netherlands.
Tourists caught smoking cannabis in the Reeperbahn red light district stand to be fined €140 (US$250).
Source: New Zealand Herald
