I noticed on my blog the other day that some of some readers are from the Netherlands. I am honored to have you as readers, and welcome your return any time. Anyway, I decided to scan the news headlines for the Netherlands (the people there are Dutch, right? Why isn't the country called Dutchland or something like that?) and the first thing that popped up was the apparent demise of "Coffee Shops" and the impending "crackdown" on the marijuana sales shops so that only residents of the country could buy marijuana. The news story went on to lament the possible losses to tourism due to this new policy.
Oh, what we Americans are missing! Marijuana at the coffee shops? I am sure some people would linger a lot longer at Starbucks USA if, along with their latte, they could burn some ash (or hash) as well. But, back to the Netherlands...
The Dutch government has found that crime is following the marijuana shops, or I should say, lurking around them. It reminded me of a time in the history of the United States when drugs were legal. Now I would like to point out that in the Netherlands, only the "soft" drugs are legal, meaning marijuana and hashish, I believe. I hope someone from the Netherlands will correct me if I am wrong on that point. The United States allowed opium dens and drug houses to operate openly, with the police inspecting them occasionally. Unfortunately, robberies and assaults, and murders, began occurring near the drug dens at first, then spreading out into the larger community. Eventually, whether the crime rate was exaggerated or not, people began calling for an end to the legal use of drugs. Of course the ILLEGAL use of drugs then took off like the space shuttle. Soon organized crime was making money off the drug trade. The war on drugs in the United States has continued ever since, and now we have THE WAR ON DRUGS.
But again, I got side-tracked. It seems the Dutch are now worried that young people of from the neighboring nations, as well as even from the United States, will no longer want to pilgrimage to Amsterdam or one of the other Dutch cities. Even worse, the young people will not want to "re-tour" the Netherlands when they are older and have MORE money to spend. I am not making this up! These sentiments were reflected by Amsterdam citizens and civic leaders, and the Dutch tourism board. I only wish I had known about the Dutch "coffee shops" when I was a young man...not that I had enough money to go to Europe in those days. Oh! And not that I would have smoked marijuana anyway! So the Dutch coffee shops are about to go the way of full service gas stations in the United States, and fade into oblivion. At least the Dutch themselves will be able to smoke a little legal pot for a little while longer. The rest of us will have to sit and sip our lattes, and inhale the steam.
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