Police in Limburg have arrested 386 people for soft drugs offences since new rules for cannabis cafes came into effect in May, news agency ANP reports on Wednesday.



However, the ANP report did not state how many people were arrested for soft drugs offences during the same period last year, before the law changed.

On May 1, all so-called coffee shops in the south of the country became private members’ clubs and customers must prove they live in the locality to be able to buy soft drugs. The measure will go nationwide on January 1, 2013.

Crime

In total, some 80 coffee shops in Limburg, Zeeland and Brabant are affected. The government hopes the new rules will reduce drugs tourism and criminality.

However, there are growing signs both tourists and locals are turning to street dealers and few locals are signing up for coffee shop membership, partly due to privacy fears. They too are now buying soft drugs from street traders, ANP said.

Most of those arrested came from the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, the report said. Limburg has assigned an extra 24 police officers to drugs duty in an effort to combat the illegal trade.

Research published earlier this week showed an illegal street-dealing network has already developed in the south of the country and coffee shop members are being hassled by others to buy drugs on their behalf.

In addition, youngsters are now being exposed to other drugs because the strict separation between hard and soft drugs no longer applies, the Maastricht University researchers said.