Dutch coffee shops challenge pot stop orderSix cannabis-vending coffee shops from two southern Dutch towns argued before a judge on Friday against plans by mayors to stop them selling soft drugs soft drugs npl → drogas fpl blandas soft drugs soft npl → drogues douces soft drugs soft npl → from next week. The mayors of Roosendaal and Bergen-op-Zoom, both near the border with Belgium, announced the step in March in a bid to ward off some 25,000 marijuana-smoking tourists who flood their communities every week. The towns' eight coffee shops, of which two are not part of the court challenge, were ordered to stop selling marijuana marijuana or marihuana, drug obtained from the flowering tops, stems, and leaves of the hemp plant, Cannabis sativa (see hemp) or C. indica; the latter species can withstand colder climates. from next Wednesday, but were given permission to remain in operation as ordinary bars. The coffee shops had no avenue of appealing the mayors' decision, whose violation would mean a five-year forced closure. They asked a civil judge on Friday to give an order preventing their closure in case they are held in violation of the mayors' order. "If the coffee shops continue to sell soft drugs after Wednesday (and are closed down as punishment), this way they will at least have a chance to challenge their closure before an administrative judge," their lawyer Harry Nieland told AFP (1) (AppleTalk Filing Protocol) The file sharing protocol used in an AppleTalk network. In order for non-Apple networks to access data in an AppleShare server, their protocols must translate into the AFP language. See file sharing protocol. . "The coffee shops must not be closed." Bart Roozendaal, a lawyer for the mayors, said their move had been "very well motivated mo·ti·vate tr.v. mo·ti·vat·ed, mo·ti·vat·ing, mo·ti·vates To provide with an incentive; move to action; impel. mo , the research was done thoroughly, and there is no question of an unjustified decision." Judgement will be handed down on Tuesday. The consumption and possession of small amounts of cannabis cannabis: see hemp; marijuana. cannabis Any plant of the genus Cannabis, which contains a single species, C. sativa. It is widely cultivated throughout the northern temperate zone. has been decriminalised in The Netherlands since 1976, as is its sale in licensed coffee shops. But its mass cultivation cultivation, tilling or manipulation of the soil, done primarily to eliminate weeds that compete with crops for water and nutrients. Cultivation may be used in crusted soils to increase soil aeration and infiltration of water; it may also be used to move soil to or and large-scale sale is forbidden. 
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