Two months since smoking marijuana was banned outdoors in parts of Amsterdam city centre no one has yet been fined, a spokesman for mayor Femke Halsema told the Parool on Tuesday.

The ban came into effect on May 25 and is one of a series of measures city officials hope will reduce the problems caused by tourists in the red light district.

People who defy the ban, which does not apply to cannabis café terraces, can be fined €100. But a fine can only be levied after the person has been warned about smoking weed in public and persists in doing so.

The ban applies to the red light district, Dam square, the Damrak – the main drag to the main railway station, and the Nieuwmarkt shopping street.

Zombies

With post-Covid visitors hitting an estimated 18 million last year, residents, councillors and Amsterdam’s mayor had agreed the situation in the red light district was out of control.

Councillors protested about “glassy-eyed tourist zombies staggering about”, with many campaigning for tourists to be banned from buying cannabis entirely.

The council has now introduced a set of measures, including earlier closing times for brothels and bars, a crackdown on alcohol sales in the red light district, a “stay away” advertising campaign to deter nuisance visitors and the the ban on smoking cannabis in public.