The Smeerboel festival in Utrecht was accused of “promoting” drug use on social media, AD reported on Tuesday. The festival organizers explained that the post was a joke and should not be seen as an encouragement for visitors to take drugs during the festival. However, experts and State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen (Public Health) argued that these jokes risk normalizing drug use and should be stopped.
State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen is seeking parliamentary support in the coalition to severely restrict alcohol sales in the Netherlands. He wants to ban alcohol in sports canteens, prohibit supermarkets from selling wine or specialty beers, substantially increase excise duty, and is considering a minimum price for alcoholic beverages, sources close to the government told De Telegraaf.
State Secretary Maarten van Ooijen (Public Health) is urging supermarkets not to look for "clever tricks" to be able to continue selling tobacco after the national ban on supermarket sales comes into force on July 1 next year. He supports municipalities like Utrecht that prohibit entrepreneurs from opening new tobacco stores.
The municipality of Utrecht will not allow any new tobacconist shops to open in the city for at least a year. The city worries that the upcoming ban on supermarkets selling cigarettes, which takes effect 1 July 2024, will lead to an influx of tobacconists, alderman Eelco Erenberg (Public Health) said.
The Netherlands will pay tribute to those who have been killed during war and peacekeeping missions since the outbreak of World War II with ceremonies and a moment of silence on Thursday. The annual Remembrance Day is most notable for the national commemoration on Dam Square in Amsterdam, when a trumpet player’s music brings in the start of a two-minute moment of silence at 8 p.m. that is respected across the country.