Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by nothrabannosir on Thursday August 08, 2019 @12:30PM
(#20645979)
> recently the city council have been taking steps to address these problems
I was in Amsterdam this morning and everyone I talked to explicitly mentioned it being done against drunk Englishmen on stag dos. I remember myself hating fractious drunk English stag parties, and have fond memories of pointing polite and hapless stoned Italians to the street we were already on.
Tourists from the UK are reviled by Amsterdam and they’ve ruined it so much the entire city centre now has an alcohol ban.
It has nothing to do with weed.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by dep_b on Thursday August 08, 2019 @04:11PM
(#20648172)
Well the UK is near and there are cheap flights so yeah that combined with Amsterdam's reputation and the way certain people like to "represent" the UK abroad is a pretty bad mix. But there's just tons of people from all countries all over the world that are smoking weed under your window, pissing on the street, don't watch out for cyclists and so on. You don't fix Amsterdam by banning the Brits.
Also, Dutch stag parties seem not to be that far off what happens in the UK.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by emsy on Thursday August 08, 2019 @11:06AM
(#20645227)
Amsterdam is still clean and quiet compared to other major cities. To be honest, I suspect the main factor to be the red light district. Just visit the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. I'd argue it's much worse and they don't offer legal weed. To be clear, I'm not arguing for or against prostitution, but against prostitution as a tourist attraction.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by BurningFrog on Thursday August 08, 2019 @11:15AM
(#20645327)
It's hard to see how you can have prostitution and it not be a tourist attraction.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by davvolun on Thursday August 08, 2019 @11:28AM
(#20645423)
If prostitution was legal, or decriminalized (I believe sex workers and advocates prefer decriminalization over legalization), everywhere, it wouldn't be much of a tourist attraction.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by Ididntdothis on Thursday August 08, 2019 @01:33PM
(#20646584)
In Germany prostitution is legal and with the exception of st Pauli the red light districts are the opposite of tourist attractions.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by bartvanH on Thursday August 08, 2019 @10:33AM
(#20644955)
I am personally more annoyed by the drunk people than i am by the high/stoned people.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by ed_balls on Thursday August 08, 2019 @10:35AM
(#20644969)
If people were just smoking weed that wouldn't be a problem.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by delecti on Thursday August 08, 2019 @11:25AM
(#20645402)
I think the relatively small size (land area and population) of the Netherlands and the length of time that things have been going on have both contributed to that. A country newly legalizing pot probably has a lot less to worry about WRT rambunctious tourists.
Re:Luxembourg to be first European country to legalise cannabis
by EForEndeavour on Thursday August 08, 2019 @11:03AM
(#20645201)
In other words, heavy tourism is a problem, no matter what drives it.
Well good for you, but as someone who lives in the centre of Amsterdam I can understand the motivation to discourage drug tourism.
Edit: to clarify it's not the reams of tourists getting high in coffee shops that I have a problem with, but the knock-on effects of it. Tourists treat the city like an adult themepark and recently the city council have been taking steps to address these problems.