Amsterdam Coffeeshop Directory Forums

This isn't making me feel any better...from yesterday:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/10/l ... eputation/

la2019 wrote: ↑Tue 20th Oct 2020 11:16 pm This isn't making me feel any better...from yesterday:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/10/l ... eputation/

"There should be fewer music festivals and a ban on ‘amusement park’ activities such as beer bikes, water bikes, segways and the like."

It seems this strange obsession with going back to how things were in the 1950s that's been growing throughout the UK and US these last few years is now even taking root in more sensible countries

Banning beer bikes is quite a humane thing in fairness only stag parties use stuff like that

In essence, they're making the case for reversing the permissive approach to social issues by focusing on some of its more unsavory aspects; scapegoating coffeeshops beacuse they're easy targets. I can only hope that the live-and-let-live, pragmatic attitude that gave rise to the shops in the first place wins out...To me at any rate, that attitude seems baked into the very culture. I hope it stays that way!

OK, so we're trending in the right direction with the latest news...(I think)
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/12/p ... y-council/
I guess we find out later this month or into next month what the Mayor is proposing in terms of "regulating the coffee shops..."
Fingers crossed they just make some performative gestures but it's nothing of real substance in terms of keeping foreign visitors out of the shops!

So, the latest. Not sure if these 88 measures are likely to pass, a pipe-dream, or anywhere in between. I also can't be sure of the scope of these proposals...I just don't have even a basic understanding of Amsterdam's local politics. I just know I don't like it!
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2020/12/c ... m-in-2025/

This doesn’t make sense to me as a lay person. They’re basically saying they don’t like the young weed and sex tourists, which is fair enough and then they’re also saying the pandemic showed how reliant they are on them and how they want locals to like the city more.
Firstly I’ve lived in several cities around the world and those that attract tourists the locals tend to not like the tourists but realize they’re a necessity. For example I’m in Dublin atm and the same arguments about Airbnb exist.
So they want to stop the dependence on one type of tourist and move it to another? Also they have a dream of conferences, it’s an expensive city, they may struggle to out price other eu cities.
Wouldn’t the answer be to pump some of the tax money into the locals and try to diversify? Try to appeal to different level of weed smokers but also other tourists.
Also the hordes of tourists that take advantage of the cheap flights that don’t smoke weed but go for the museums etc might not go if the overall costs go up, which they would do if less people visit.
Obviously I have no facts to back up what I’m saying, just thoughts but it seems dangerous t jettison what is a cash cow, especially in a world that is looking like less people will travel anyway to target another type of tourist with no guarantee. Surely the answer is just cater to all.

So that article makes it still seem like a proposal. But this one makes it sound much more definite:

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2021/01/b ... in-future/

Anyone have any further insights? Can the shops fight back? Most of them would be eliminated (166 down to 68), so I'd hope they'd fight this tooth and nail. That's a lot of businesses destroyed/jobs eliminated while trying to recover from the pandemic...

That references another article and even in that article it shows there is some opposition saying it will drive to street dealers. But it won't at least for a year.
I said it before but it's a tourist city and it's main selling point is sex and drugs.
I think they're missing the obvious, if it's the behaviour they're not liking deal with the excess alcohol drinking. I can't image the world and their mother are pulling whiteys all the time because they smoked weed.

I'm so glad I got to experience Amsterdam over the years before all this.

Waldo Swan wrote: ↑Mon 11th Jan 2021 03:23 pm I'm so glad I got to experience Amsterdam over the years before all this.

With you there buddy

If only we could go back to the early 90's when the city was still a little bit lawless and it had that buzz around town when you was on a stroll, the prices where still bang on point on the smoke front and there was some right characters working in the shops then, some of them people i still call friends to this day They was some good times

Ghost wrote: ↑Tue 12th Jan 2021 10:17 am

Waldo Swan wrote: ↑Mon 11th Jan 2021 03:23 pm I'm so glad I got to experience Amsterdam over the years before all this.

With you there buddy

If only we could go back to the early 90's when the city was still a little bit lawless and it had that buzz around town when you was on a stroll, the prices where still bang on point on the smoke front and there was some right characters working in the shops then, some of them people i still call friends to this day They was some good times

You're old enough to have been in Amsterdam in the 90's as an (young) adult?

DeLekkersteNUGS16 wrote: ↑Tue 12th Jan 2021 04:03 pm

Ghost wrote: ↑Tue 12th Jan 2021 10:17 am

Waldo Swan wrote: ↑Mon 11th Jan 2021 03:23 pm I'm so glad I got to experience Amsterdam over the years before all this.

With you there buddy

If only we could go back to the early 90's when the city was still a little bit lawless and it had that buzz around town when you was on a stroll, the prices where still bang on point on the smoke front and there was some right characters working in the shops then, some of them people i still call friends to this day They was some good times

You're old enough to have been in Amsterdam in the 90's as an (young) adult?

Was thinking the same, have only met the ghost once, but he didn't look all that aged

Amsterdam rocked in the 90s... Was much better