Legalizing marijuana

[Esmoreit]

megaman79 said:

BengaBenga said:
Coming from the great liberal country of the Netherlands where Mariuana is legal (well, sort of up to 5 grammes is allowed) and can be sold in our famous Coffeeshops I support more countries that want to legalize.

Reasons are:

People that want to smoke can buy it in a controlled environment. This way they don't have to buy it from a dealer. Dealers also deal in all other kinds of stuff, like harddrugs. Legalizing softdrugs is a way to minimize softdrugs to hardrugs transitions. The number of hardrugs users in the Netherlands is lower than in a lot of other countries, including the strict US.

If softdrugs are legal, it's less cool to use them. People can try without the anxiety of doing something illegal.

I had a great conversation with a coffee shop girl in Amsterdam. She made me feel so guilty going on about pot addicts, tourists, alcoholism and its similarities. Shes right and the rest of the world has got to catch up clearly.

Conclusion i dk how these young Dutch feel about their country being a whore and drug tourist destination (probably frustrated) but i got the impression that they see their own people differently and theyre not all pot users.

Marijuana addiction should be openly discussed and treated, legalising it would certainly aid treatment.

 

As i'm now living in Amsterdam and with 22 years old are what you'd call a young Dutch person, I think I can answer this one. Hardly anyone minds and most people are pro-coffeeshop and pro-prostitutes. It is what makes Amsterdam Amsterdam. The tourists we hardly mind though it depends on nationality. Drunken stupid ass Brits are usually ignored if not downright loathed. The Americans which are usually pretty much enthusiastic and impressed generally liked and sort of cuddled (we always find them cute) and Germans aren't even being noticed anymore...

That they all come for prostitutes, drugs and alcohol (and alright, sightseeing) we don't mind. It makes sure that these things can keep on going and the economy flourishes.

That is also why I was so antagonistic against these new ideas for closing down the coffeeshops on the first page.