http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/28/du ... abis-shops

well, now who gives a shit about traveling there.

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Meh, you can still get pot from pretty much anyone there. Shit, I got some from the maid at my hotel. And there is always the Red Light district to hit up.

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they said they are shutting down alot of the red light district.

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I can legally buy pot from about 6 places within a mile of my house.
Transcontinental flights are expensive if you're just looking for some dank.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

They've said that for 20 years. It makes them too much money, they won't shut it down.

Exactly. When you get off the train there, the first thing you see in the square is a HUGE cement penis fountain...like 30 feet tall. Amsterdam's main draws are drugs and sex and there is no way they could kill those cash cows.

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Oh...one other thing. If they make coffee shops off limits the crime will sky rocket. There is a virtual army of big black dudes from the The British Virgin Islands walking the streets asking people if they want drugs, which the cops who were riding around pretended not to see.

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Quite the quandry Amsterdam has provided itself. Lower level crime and basic quality of life for the locals has gone down considerably by attracting peripheral drug connected/correlated activity. Go back to banning marijuana and have the organized thugs/dealers to handle. Great couple of options there.

The uncelebrated side of pot...uh...coffee shops.

http://www.dutchamsterdam.nl/686-amster ... ized-crime

...and the Red Light District in general.

http://www.dutchamsterdam.nl/250-amster ... cleaned-up

Doubt it will happen, I can only imagine how much money they get out of naive tourists looking to score some weed and sleep with busted hookers.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

That's one of the problems. Amsterdam is NOT getting their fair share of tax revenue due to organized criminals interfering. They might get 33%-66% of their rightful tax proceeds, so it's not paying off anyway. Combine that with a general rise in lower level crime (I sort of miss spoke in my first post) around these places, and a reputation that locals are not happy with, and you get the initiative to close some shops and generally clean the area up.

Amsterdam has been used as a shining example of legalization of marijuana and prostitution (although it's not quite legal there). Reality is starting to set in and the end result may be much different than hoped for.