Definitely not! Those canals just don’t look the same without a few joints ;-)

Were is the democracy here…we need to vote…imagine not sell the almighty guinness to foreigners…im gonna miss it..

If they do succeed in banning it time to get on your bike Enda and legalise it here in the cafe’s . Imagine the tourism figures then , think of the ching ching Noonan

God imagine that! Our tourism figures would sky rocket.

Crime in Holland is generally quite low. The only ones who cant quite handle the freedom are indeed mostly foreign, and that’s only an issue in the more touristy cities. Even still, levels of street violence and general thuggery are far lower in Holland than here. This policy works.

So right. Well done. If there’s one thing more depressing and saddening and miserable and second-rate than those nasty ‘coffee shops’ with dead-eyed tourists sitting in the dank, smoke-stained cavern and puffing on joints, it’s the hideous meat market of the Amsterdam red light district.

This wonderful piece of political activism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-a8dAHDQoo (I don’t know are links allowed?) shows just what it’s about; watch till the end.

Firstly, what’s so depressing, saddening, miserable or nasty about adults enjoying a smoke or vape in a coffee shop? They’re not doing you or anyone else any harm and when compared to people involved in the pub/drinking culture, they’re a very peaceful bunch of people; I’ve never witnessed violence or aggression from people after they’ve consumed cannabis. And why you are brining prostitution into the discussion is beyond me, the coffee shopsin Amsterdam have nothing to do with prostitution.

Firstly, what’s so depressing, saddening, miserable or nasty about adults enjoying a smoke or vape in a coffee shop? They’re not doing you or anyone else any harm and when compared to people involved in the pub/drinking culture, they’re a very peaceful bunch of people; I’ve never witnessed violence or aggression from people after they’ve consumed cannabis. And why you are brining prostitution into the discussion is beyond me, the coffee shops in Amsterdam have nothing to do with prostitution.

Nothing depressing as such about people smoking dope, but I find those Amsterdam weed cafes horrible, with a few stoned people staring into space as if searching for their lost lives.

If you don’t like coffee shops, it’s probably best that you don’t go into them, but it’s still no reason to ban tourists from dong so, if they wish to enjoy a smoke. And I guess you haven’t visited too many, in most coffee shops you’ll find friendly people chatting away, enjoying a coffee or juice with their smoke, playing a a game of pool or sitting quietly in the corner while reading their book; of course you’ll also find people who are a little bit too stoned, but hey they’re not doing anyone any harm.

The coffeshops geared towards tourists are pretty depressing, but you could say the same about a fair few bars around Temple Bar. Get a little bit away from tourist areas, and there are other, far more pleasant places to indulge…

Sinabhfuil,yeah,I was in the one your talking about……so I went into one of the hundred other ones that had people laughing and joking,just like a pub but there was no fighting and I was more hungry than usual…..I found dampkring to be a bit too packed for my liking but most of the others were perfect

I find a lot of the problem can be attributed to Dutch beer, which is strong and served in small glasses. I have spent the odd random afternoon in a cafe, utterly convinced I’m never going to move my arms again. Hardly fit to make noise and act in a rowdy manner in the streets. (Those are rare occasions by the way, mainly I would enjoy a quiet smoke with that delicious Dutch coffee, excactly as Brian has described in woderful detail!)
You are allowed to drink beer on the streets in the Netherlands and where I’m from a lot of the bars are adjacent from each other. In the ‘Dam I now a lot of the party-goers will be tourists, but down south in Breda It’s mainly students (Dutch student). My cousin works in a niteclub there and they’re still going at 4am.
The differences between a drinkers and ‘stoners’ has been well documented and they are miles apart.

Woderful?? Wonderful of course.

Louise,I now have a craving for a sit down in a coffee shop……..typical,being pregnant means no coffee,no smoking and at my weight,no flying :( it’ll be YEARS before I do that again. let’s hope they don’t take my opportunity away eh?

Very good Mel comment of the week !

Oh I like that, the punch delivered with just the right amount of potential sp@&k +1000

Nail on the head Phantom Duck Nibbler

A lot of ‘business meetings’ take place in The Hague etc. for the same reasons!

I think that it’s this kind of tourism that they want to discourage… My boss is from there and he says that many folks perceive the problems associated with drugs as worsened since the ‘legalization’ of thc

Foreigners? Many foreigners are Caucasian so it mightn’t be.

Discrimantory then Conor. If we banned non irish from the jobs market thats the same as the Netherlands banning foreigners from buying weed.

Ciara-sometimes you speak some awful rot!

Brendan, can you tell me how treating foreigners different to the locals is ok?

Ciara you’re the nuts don’t mind them :)

They’re not talking about banning foriegners from working in the cafes, but from purchasing from them. I would assume it would also only apply to non-resident foriegners (i.e. tourists). It’s a shame the rest of Europe never followed the Netherlands’ lead on decriminalising cannabis or they probably wouldn’t have the problems that they think this ban will solve.

Oh I see from your follow up comment that you already understood that. Seems like an inappropriate comparison to me. It would be more like banning tourists from drinking in pubs here.

To be honest, I think they’re going to encounter some practical difficulties. It would be illegal to ban Europeans working in the Netherlands and what would they do, ask for a pay stub on the door? Just seems like a hassle to actually carry out.

Still racist. Refusing to serve people based on their national origin.

I know the type you mean, they’re ‘the lads’, (or lasses) out for a good time, go way overboard with their consumption and get completely wasted. But I still think beer is responsible for most of that behaviour. You get way too stoned, what happens? You pull a whitey/vomit/can’t move/giggle/ eventually pass out. You get too drunk? You’re loud/rowdy/vomit, pick a fight?. Your inhibitions are lowered and rational thought and decision making go out the window.

I’ve only pulled a whitey twice in my life and neither times could I have torn my arms away from the toilet to giggle. Also,both times were because I mixed alcohol with my smoking!……other than that though,you’ve hit the mail on the head there

You could say the same thing about Dublin, people falling around Temple Bar, getting sick on pavements etc., I’ve witnessed similar behaviour in Amsterdam, but cannot say that it’s any worse than what we get here. Outside of the sleazy red light district, you’ll find a beautiful city, where both residents & tourists can enjoy a smoke in the coffee shops, while acting in a responsible manner. I’m pretty confident that alcohol is more to blame when it comes to people getting messy.

Mix alcohol with a joint and your very likely to pull a whitey,bloody horrible. I only smoke weed when I’m there and avoid alcohol. Also,red light district is a bit too sleezy for me. After passing the 4th guy trying to sell coke and another guy asking how much I cost I had had enough. Outside the red light district though (which is still worth a visit!!) the city is pretty peaceful I think,but maybe I was just too high to notice ;D

Is there the possibility that you’re over-generalising ever so slightly?

In fact, I reckon this is more to do with German tourists. Both Dutch and German politicians have been blaming each other for the debasing of their youth populations for years now, and there’s very little love lost between the two countries.

As an aside, there was a great example of this a few years ago. A German politician based in Munster ( bordering NL ) went on a rant on how the Dutch were enticing german youths with sex, drugs and lax morality, to which a spokesman for the coffee-shops Bund replied with the information that a large majority of the grass on sale in The Netherlands is actually produced in North Germany! Stony silence from the German side…

My that’s very racist. It must be a real burden having to live in Poland which we all know is the pillar of sobriety and good behavior by all its citizens either at home and abroad.

I don’t think “germany” or “belgium” has anything to do
with the smelly Irish-looking, tracksuit-wearing, gizmo-
-sporting English-speaker smelling up our streets.

So …? What’s your point?

Wow.. Ignoring the big delay in replying ( hey, life happens ), you may have noticed that pretty much every article focuses on continental Europeans travelling in NL by car as the type of drug tourist that the legislation is tryIng to clamp on on.

I live in North Germany, not so far from the border, so I was only only adding my two cents based on the news stories I’ve come across over the last two years. And yes, when you look at those atories it’s clear that both NL and German politicians use the coffee shop system to stir up a bit of media attention when things get slow. I didn’t mention Belgium, by the way. Belgium was clearly named alongside Germany in the articles that came after this one.

I don’t mean to assume anything, but I get the feeling that you have a problem with English-speakers in your new home town, maybe because you want to disassociate yourself from the culture you came from. Fair enough. But your comment that all English-speakers are bad is a massive generalisation and so makes for a bad argument. But thanks for responding.

“Our streets?” – can you clarify just who the “us” and who the “them” are from your perspective.