Amsterdam To Close Brothels/Weed Cafes

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Amsterdam unveiled plans Saturday to close brothels, sex shops and marijuana cafes in its ancient city center as part of a major effort to drive organized crime out of the tourist haven.

The city is targeting businesses that "generate criminality," including gambling parlors, and the so-called "coffee shops" where marijuana is sold openly. Also targeted are peep shows, massage parlors and souvenir shops used by drug dealers for money-laundering. - MSNBC

The move to close down marijuana cafes sounds pretty stupid; won't the number of drug dealers and criminal behavior actually increase? I don't have a problem with the other drives.

C'mon Bro!; Netherlands Bans Tobacco

AMSTERDAM - Starting July 1, marijuana will be the only leaf that can be smoked in public places in the Netherlands. Cannabis devotees aren't celebrating.

Local pot smokers, who usually cut joints with tobacco, and owners of the coffee shops where they are allowed to light up will have to change their habits when the nation implements the indoor tobacco ban.

Puffing a pure marijuana cigarette in public will still be permitted; smoking one with tobacco will merit coffee shop owners a $466 fine.

"Every customer will have to learn how to smoke pure," said Robert Kempen, co-owner of The NooN and Mellow Yellow in Amsterdam, which sells marijuana and hashish. The rule makes him "sick to death," he said, rolling himself a joint. - The Windsor Star

There will be a tobacco black market fo' sho.