From Wednesday to Saturday I was at a football tournament with my school in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam is the wierdest and probably nastiest city I have ever been to, and I'm not the sort of person who doesnt travel a lot. We spent much of our free time in the old city center, which is a rather interesting place. The infamous red light district is pretty much everywhere, in the real red light district the atmosphere impedes further.
One minute your walking down a relatively normal road (as normal as amsterdam gets), you turn one alley and suddenly you have your pushers, junkies and whores everywhere. You have beautiful architecture, beatuful buildings ruined by the incredible hordes of coffee shops and boarded up windows.
On the first night, we went to get something to eat. Just by walking on the street we were offered a variety of substances, Cocaine, Ecstacy and deviations of Cannabis to name a few. After buying a donut at a bakery, some black person trailed us for 10 minutes offering us cocaine all the time. On saturday, new zealand was playing ireland in rugby. Only the coffeeshops had skysports, and while watching the game on an outside facing screen (just opposite a club called ":banana::banana::banana::banana:-Ring"), a variety of arabian and negro people came up to us and offered us drugs of many sorts.
Neon signs flashing "coffee-shop", "magic-mushrooms", "porno-supermarket", "sex-shop", "porno cabins", "porno-private-sauna", etc were EVERYWHERE. Psychedelic Mushrooms and hash were being sold in vending machines
Not trying to be racist or anything, but apart from saturday when holland played italy in football, the only people I met were english + french tourists, people with an arabic and negro ethnic background. It's simply ridiculous that 9 out of 10 people on the street offer you drugs and ALL of these being other than native dutch people.
Something is seriously wrong with that city, being a person who generally doesnt mind mary jane, this was absolutely ridiculous. Amsterdam is a city run by pushers and tourists. Nasty city, first time I felt genuinely frightened to take a short cut down an alley to burger king or finish watching a rugby game.
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I guess you were probably in the worst spot in that city.
Well as you said the people who live there were not on the street were you saw all that uglyness...
From what I hear, the dutch people themselves live only outside the center. The inner city is obvious subject to the phenomen known as inner city decay. It was rather disturbing to be there, even the worst places of prague or copenhagen are nothing compared to amsterdam
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In short, both AMD and NVIDIA discovered that their next-generation graphics cards are superior to each others' last-generation graphics cards.
I only had good time every time I have been in Amsterdam. I love the city’s architecture, its tiny streets, the paved roads, the channels, and above all I like its young, friendly environment. I have very rarely seen prostitutes chilling outside on the streets. There are pushers by I have met them only on the main street where all the coffee shops are. But, c'mon, they are in every city of the world. Have u ever been at Trafalgar Square?
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LOL ive been to amsterdam like 4 or 5 times overall i spent 3 months or more there.
what you describe is not the city i know, lol
you only describe the worst part of amsterdam, the red light district.
i have never seen a single junkie in amsterdam... not a single one.
i was never offered drugs by anybody, unless of course in the shops
one guy offered me and my buddies cannabis for money, but he wasnt selling it, he was a tourist from jamaica (no really, lol, he only spoke english and showed us his passport) he had no nethlerland money left and only had cannabis. so he gave us some of that for some money, he gave as way more than the money was worth, so it was really not a dealer.
i dont know if amsterdam has changed that much since the last time i visited it in 2000 or whether your just seeing things worse than they actually are...
mushrooms and cannabis are semi legal in germany too, didnt know cocaine was legal in the nethlernads, wow... speed too?
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whoa ^ not the post I expected to see from you Saaya.
As far as I know, technically no drugs are legal in Amsterdam, even pot. I believe they are decriminalized, and cops generally look the other way.
erm no, they are absolutely legal.
there are shops where you can buy cannabis legally.
you have to be over 18 and your not supposed to consume any drugs in a public place, thats the only restrictions afaik.
in germany cops usually ignore people who smoke cannabis, unless they are driving a car. and if you have a small amount of cannabis with you the worst thing that can happen is that they take it away from you.
your not gonna get arrested for smoking cannabis... well at least not in practise... theoretically they could i think...
owning some for yourself is kinda legal, just dealing with it is illegal.
thats afaik, maybe the laws changed in the last years...
if anybody thinks this thread should be edited/closed/removed let me know.
we arent talking about drugs like something cool, wich they imo arent, or glorifying them ,so in my opinion this discussion is ok.
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You must have visited a bad part of the city m8. In the wel known tourist areas (dam/damrak/red light district) ive been asked to buy drugs now and then but as long as you dont youll be fine. I know its a pain, i hate it just as much as you. You are right about of the origin of most of them pushers, over 90% isnt native dutch (not that that matters, its annoying anyway). Pretty obvious though that in the redlight area youll find them girls, thats what that area is for..
All drugs (except for alcohol/caffeine etc) are illegal in NL. The only decriminalised (NOT legal!) drugs overhere are: pot, hash and fresh (not dried)magic mushrooms. All other are illegal (cocaine is considered a hard drug in nl and is NOT legal). Even in tolerate Amsterdam things are starting to change. Youll can get fined now smoking pot or drinking alcohol on the street.
Amsterdam has about 1400 cafes and 275 coffeeshops. In 1993 the number of coffeeshops was about 550. This decrease is due to the cities new policy and the fact that owners that dont follow the (straight) rules will be forced to close their shop.
Too bad your first impression isnt good, imo its a beautifull and nice city, although there are parts where people are looking for touristst to make money trafficing drugs etc.
Fact is that the place(s) where this happens really is just a very small part of the entire city.
Sounds like pretty much any "tourist" city. AFAIK coke isnt legal anywhere in the EU. You have to be licenced to be able to sell Cannabis and only for use in licenced bars or @ home.
lol....that's ehrm...interesting...although I practically lived in Amsterdam...I know what you mean..but c'mon...where the f did you go man... hahaha, wrong part of Amsterdam for sure (well depends what you're looking for really)
The black man chasing you part was hilarious....haha
Must be because I know all the bad parts, that I never had that type of stuff that you mention :p
Coke is definately not legal, but its readily avalable in Amsterdam as it is everywhere else.
The only dealer I taked to was french (black guy, seemed ok, bar the drug dealing).
if you go into the middle of the red light district then this is what to exepct, but its not a big bit of the city ... and the red lights are a great clue to avoid if its not what your after.
last time I went over we met a couple of aussie girls in the canabis information palce (they made me tea as I was hungover) and they showed us around the next night. Had a great time, amsterdam has some good clubs and bars if you know where to look.
Im definatly going back.
The name DAMRAK rings a bell, if its any help to where we were spending our two nights (we were guided there by our coaches ), then it was by the Krasnapolsky center.
I dont think that what I saw reflects amsterdam fairly, howeve I saw nothing better than that
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Quote:
In short, both AMD and NVIDIA discovered that their next-generation graphics cards are superior to each others' last-generation graphics cards.
JHH (Nvidia) sep 2009: The best way to always be the number1 is to have no backup plan link
JHH (Nvidia) nov 2009: Tolerance for failure is important, it puts our employees in a position where they are willing to try new ideas link
Solus Corvus - maybe things would get better if people addressed the content of each others posts instead of trying to discredit each other with insults and poisoning the well. Attack the argument not the person.
Hail Voltage! The Solution to AND Source of all our Hardware Problems
lol you have some weird coaches then if they guided you to the worst part of amsterdam full of prostitutes and drug dealers
Believe it or not they are REALLY nice coaches who would never dream of doing drugs etc. - they just think that place has a nice collection of good restaurants
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In short, both AMD and NVIDIA discovered that their next-generation graphics cards are superior to each others' last-generation graphics cards.
i cant believe its good enough to go through the worst part of the city, avoid aids infected needles that get thrown at you and having people blow cocaine at you from all directions
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JHH (Nvidia) nov 2009: Tolerance for failure is important, it puts our employees in a position where they are willing to try new ideas link
Solus Corvus - maybe things would get better if people addressed the content of each others posts instead of trying to discredit each other with insults and poisoning the well. Attack the argument not the person.
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No they really are not absolutely legal. There is ton of confusion regarding Dutch drug laws. There are things you can and cannot do, place you can and cannot sell, buy, smoke, etc. Whether or not any of those laws are enforced is irrelavent. Smoking pot is not absolutely legal in the Netherlands.
If it were absolutely legal there would be no reason for coffee shops, because you'd be buying it at the grocery store or liquor store or from anyone you want on the street.
There is a system that you have to play along with, and that system is based upon laws that regulate the sale of pot. It's become so accepted there that most people think it's 100% legal, which it is not.
No they really are not absolutely legal. There is ton of confusion regarding Dutch drug laws. There are things you can and cannot do, place you can and cannot sell, buy, smoke, etc. Whether or not any of those laws are enforced is irrelavent. Smoking pot is not absolutely legal in the Netherlands.
If it were absolutely legal there would be no reason for coffee shops, because you'd be buying it at the grocery store or liquor store or from anyone you want on the street.
There is a system that you have to play along with, and that system is based upon laws that regulate the sale of pot. It's become so accepted there that most people think it's 100% legal, which it is not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by saaya
there are shops ("coffee shops") where you can buy cannabis legally.
you have to be over 18 and your not supposed to consume any drugs in a public place, thats the only restrictions afaik.
JHH (Nvidia) sep 2009: The best way to always be the number1 is to have no backup plan link
JHH (Nvidia) nov 2009: Tolerance for failure is important, it puts our employees in a position where they are willing to try new ideas link
Solus Corvus - maybe things would get better if people addressed the content of each others posts instead of trying to discredit each other with insults and poisoning the well. Attack the argument not the person.
Hail Voltage! The Solution to AND Source of all our Hardware Problems
JHH (Nvidia) sep 2009: The best way to always be the number1 is to have no backup plan link
JHH (Nvidia) nov 2009: Tolerance for failure is important, it puts our employees in a position where they are willing to try new ideas link
Solus Corvus - maybe things would get better if people addressed the content of each others posts instead of trying to discredit each other with insults and poisoning the well. Attack the argument not the person.
Hail Voltage! The Solution to AND Source of all our Hardware Problems
No they really are not absolutely legal. There is ton of confusion regarding Dutch drug laws. There are things you can and cannot do, place you can and cannot sell, buy, smoke, etc. Whether or not any of those laws are enforced is irrelavent. Smoking pot is not absolutely legal in the Netherlands.
If it were absolutely legal there would be no reason for coffee shops, because you'd be buying it at the grocery store or liquor store or from anyone you want on the street.
There is a system that you have to play along with, and that system is based upon laws that regulate the sale of pot. It's become so accepted there that most people think it's 100% legal, which it is not.
Okay let's make a list then.
1.) Selling pot is only legal in coffeeshops.
2.) Smoking pot is only legal in coffeeshops or in your own house or garden if you do not bother anybody with it.
3.) Coke, XTX, LSD, heroin, etc are NOT legal to be sold and bought/used.
4.) It's illegal to grow cannabis with the purpose of selling. I beleave 5 plants are legal for your own use.
So here you have it all summed up. In theory coffeeshops cannot buy cannabis because nobody is allowed to produce it and sell it. The police can get a lot of information from coffeeshops about people that grow cannabis and this way they can keep the production and sales under control.
When you smoke pot outside on the streets or at a meeting point the police allowes you to smoke pot aslong as you don't bother other people with it, this is the same with alcohol consumption.
its all been said and the topic starter doesnt post anymore. no offense northwood but your post was a little over the edge, and im affraid there will be more posts like it or the thread will just go off topic, so i decided to close it
if anybody has a problem with it feel free to pm me
JHH (Nvidia) sep 2009: The best way to always be the number1 is to have no backup plan link
JHH (Nvidia) nov 2009: Tolerance for failure is important, it puts our employees in a position where they are willing to try new ideas link
Solus Corvus - maybe things would get better if people addressed the content of each others posts instead of trying to discredit each other with insults and poisoning the well. Attack the argument not the person.
Hail Voltage! The Solution to AND Source of all our Hardware Problems
), then it was by the Krasnapolsky center.
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