All good things must come to an end..sometimes.

By the end of 2011, a fifth of Amsterdam's coffee shops selling marijuana will be closed down because they are within 250 meters of a school.

Obviously, this Dutch coffee shop policy is facing a lot of criticism as cities near Belgian boarders say they will close their shops to to fight drug tourism and crime.

Amsterdam has cooperated with 32 other Dutch mayors and city council representatives to back a continuation of "soft drugs" policy of toleration.

But they also want better rules on the sale and trade of marijuana. While they agreed that a ban on the substance isn't the solution, its use should be discouraged.

The current policy allows an individual to carry less than five grams of the substance.

One mayor proposed having the coffee shops moved to the edge of the city. He cited that the problem isn't that his country has these coffee shops, rather, it's that the other countries don't.

The government will convene next year and evaluate its soft and hard drugs policy.

Source