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Amsterdam -- Not As Fun As It Used to Be

Posted Dec 7th 2008 4:00AM by TMZ Staff

Less brothels, pot and sex shops in Amsterdam? The nerve!

The real Sin City -- Amsterdam, Netherlands -- is closing down a lot of its marijuana cafes, brothels and sex shops in an effort to run organized crime out of town.

Officials are also closing down the gambling parlors, peep shows and massage parlors that are being used by drug dealers to launder money.

Who would have thought the world's most famous destination for prostitution and drugs had so much crime?



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1. GAY, they will lose the tourism

Posted at 12:27PM on Dec 7th 2008 by first doobie

2. Pete Doherty is the greasiest junkie I have ever see besides Amy Winehouse and Steve-O has the worst scratch tattoo work I have ever seen.

Posted at 12:44PM on Dec 7th 2008 by ummmmmmmm

3. I live in Amsterdam right now and I don't really see as much crime as you think. And of course all the crime that they speak of is in the highest tourist areas. It's like that everywhere.....

Posted at 12:37PM on Dec 8th 2008 by hotlude79

4. they'll lose the tourism of the low-lifes but they may gain tourism from the actual respectable people who won't go near the place now.

maybe there's hope for amsterdam after all.

Posted at 2:52PM on Dec 7th 2008 by well

5. kinda disproves the idea that if you make it legal, it will keep the mob out and make drugs and hookers safe.

Posted at 5:12PM on Dec 7th 2008 by hans

6. "The 43 cannabis-selling cafes scheduled to close (or re-locate) in 2011 are part of citywide effort to gentrify parts of Amsterdam’s ‘Old City’ that are prime for urban and tourist redevelopment"..... Logical right. This and additional information has been listed at Norml.org.............

Posted at 5:40PM on Dec 7th 2008 by more to the story

7. The reason both cannabis and prostitution have remained legal is not because the Dutch are so opened minded, they are cost effective. As a port city, being ground zero for Ecstasy production, they do not waste tax payer’s money by arresting and incarcerating pot smokers and lonely British men on holiday (in the 1700s it was lonely British sailors). I lived there from 1999-2002 and the Dutch are very straight up ; ) people (except for the largest gay population in Europe), but they are also quite tolerant of all things, and believe in reforming criminals, not just warehousing them. That is not likely to change, but rather tighten (ehem) the existing laws.

Posted at 7:27AM on Dec 8th 2008 by snowleopard

8. have been going to amsterdam for years...not like... paris ...wein...or milano...the dutch have a tolerant vibe that keeps me coming back...

Posted at 12:50PM on Dec 8th 2008 by northern gypsy

9. We live in the great city of Amsterdam, and compared to some of the areas we used to live around in Southern California, this place is safe, the people are kind, and despite popular perceptions, not everyone here is a drugged-up faded-out street rat who's puffin weed and pumpin whores. All this gentrification talk is just another effort of religious-right groups trying to exert control where theres no need for more. And what major city doesn't have organized crime? Supply & demand ensures druga will always exist, so tax it! Tax it like a hooker's ass, and use the money for schools!

Posted at 4:32AM on Dec 9th 2008 by eric sova

10. NO DONT CLOSE THEM DOWN... people like me who love to smoke the green stuff will not have anything to do now when they go there.. i have been wanting to go there for years and now that i made a plane to go this summer they go and take away the reason we were going. i think is everyone in this world would smoke we would have alot less fights and lot less drunks driving around killing people. green makes you calm, nice to be around..

so put down the bottle and pick up a bowl...

peace out

Posted at 2:23PM on Dec 8th 2008 by casey N

11. Guys, they are NOT closing them down. They are reducing the number near schools and the area to a a few streets in the center. It's funny, because most people who live here rarely smoke pot (although admitedly, we all tried it at some point).

I don't really think they increase criminality that much, but the present government feels we should be more "respectable". Oh, well, that's what happens when you get Harry Potter as prime minister.

Posted at 5:41PM on Dec 8th 2008 by Amsterdamer

12. to the comment before mine, well no skippy they dont smoke as much. thats because they can without the criminal stigma and charges you get in america. if we could smoke here , we wouldnt go there and we wouldnt do it as much.

Posted at 9:29PM on Dec 8th 2008 by no duh