THE HAGUE, 14/05/09 - The number of cannabis cafes tolerated by the government declined by 3.7 percent to 702 between 2005 and 2007. About one in four municipalities have one or more of these 'coffee shops,' according to figures from the justice ministry.

The 702 coffee-shops were spread over 106 of the 443 Dutch municipalities. By 2007, there were no coffee shops left anywhere in the Netherlands where both cannabis and alcohol were sold. In 2005, there were still 47 of such cafes, particularly in Amsterdam.

In most municipalities with coffee shops, these sales points are not allowed to be within a 250-metre radius of a school. At least 61 coffee shops were however within this radius in 2007.

Coffee-shops are bound by the so-called AHOJ-G rules. They are not allowed to advertise, to sell or possess any 'hard drugs' (such as cocaine, amphetamines or XTC), to cause any nuisance, to sell their clients more than 5 grams a time, to sell to young people aged below 18 or to have more than 500 grams in stock.

In 2007, 88 violations of the AHOJ-G rules were registered, 19 more than during the previous survey in 2005. Only three coffee shops were closed down permanently following violations. There were 21 temporary closures, and a formal warning was issued 63 times.

The 18-year minimum age rule and the 500-gram stock maximum rule were most often violated. It is unclear however whether the number of violations of the AHOJ-G rules really increased or whether the uptick was the result of more intensive enforcement by municipalities.

Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin and Home Affairs Minister Guusje ter Horst have sent the results of the surveys to the Lower House. The figures are based on a survey by the Addictions Research Centre (Centrum Verslavings Onderzoek) in Utrecht and Bureau Intraval in Groningen.

The ministers report that municipalities find it particularly difficult to check whether the sales maximum of 5 grams a time is being observed and that there is no more than 500 grams in stock. The ministers find this "worrying."