Successive conservative governments have ratcheted up the pressure against cannabis production, which is intensifying criminal activity while reducing marijuana quality. The ultimate goal: to reduce production to a minimum and for Holland to cease from being a destination for cannabis tourism.

Twenty years Holland was a paragon of progressivism in Europe, a place that welcomed any advance involving cannabis with open arms, a paradise dotted with “coffee shops” and tourists who found there a haven for marijuana consumption. 

Dutch Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten and his state secretary, Fred Teeven, have resigned after misleading parliament over a 2001 compensation payment to a convicted drug trafficker.

Mr Opstelten had said the trafficker was paid less than he actually was for money wrongly confiscated by the state.

He also said details of the payment - authorised by Mr Teeven as prosecutor - had been lost, but this was not so.

The resignations are a blow to the Liberal party as it faces an election.

Mr Opstelten and Mr Teeven are both from the conservative wing of the party, which faces a challenge from Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom Party in provincial elections this month.

The Dutch embassy in Washington DC went to extreme, witty lengths last month to put straight a misconception it says city hall there has created about marijuana use in Amsterdam.

[The Dutch embassy's infographic with an Amsterdam Washington comparison]

The Dutch embassy’s infographic with an Amsterdam Washington comparison

The embassy issued a news release that links to an infographic that lays out a comparison between the two cities. The infographic is best described as cynical and sarcastic.