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Dutch courage

According to The Telegraph (see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/3659670/Amsterdam-to-halve-shop-window-brothels-and-marijuana-cafes.html), Amsterdam is planning a crackdown on the sex trade and "coffee" shop culture in the city. While Dutch burghers may succeed in reducing the amount of vice, I somehow think they're on a hiding to nothing when it comes to wacky baccy. If my last visit in September was anything to go by, there's more being smoked there than at any time in living memory. A kind of all-pervasive haze of marijuana hung over the centre of town. You can't solve this kind of narcotic pollution through a few more police cars. It would take the equivalent of a Kyoto Treaty.

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