Amsterdam - party over?

smoking ban to hit coffee shops?

Hollands implementing the indoor smoking ban on July 1st

so the stipulation 'pure marijuana still allowed' qualifies as "party over"? illogical.

I'm going there tomorrow.

Biginoil wrote: I'm going there tomorrow.

have fun

great city (amsterdam) and country and has been one of my favorite place to visit. nice & friendly people, too. was there last year.

His Holiness, The Pope wrote: so the stipulation 'pure marijuana still allowed' qualifies as "party over"? illogical.

I never said it did,hence the '?'

I worked there a lot last year and took a couple of holidays there too so I know it quite well.

It's the best city I know of to be on your own in. Most places I feel a bit uncomfortable walking around, eating and drinking on my own but it seems to suit Amsterdam.

I'm working there tomorrow, and would stay another night if I wasn't full of a dumb cold.

I've never been to Amsterdam and have no desire to ever go there. With my capacity for over indulgenece I would come back in a box.

Well, since it's legal in my beautifull country to smoke weed on the streets everybody can go outside for smoke on the streets without any problems.:)

Lived in Amsterdam for 15 years, love and loved it to bits but with a famliy on the way moved out of there because i wanted a house with a garden (and a house that was still affordable, is this a good English word?). So my kids could/can play outside without any hassle...still great city to be and get drunk in

I cannot see the logic in this.

If people go to coffee-shops, this is in order to smoke. So most people in there are smokers... Why do people forbid smokers to smoke in places designed to smoke? Complete non-sense.

We have the same here (not for spliff). Some bars sell cigarettes (bar-tabac). But you are not allowed to smoke in the place you purchase your fags... Stupid!

They should do like we do. At home, miss Jiphy does not smoke and I do. That makes a 50/50. So I smoke outside or in a room and no other. If we have guests, we count who smoke or not. If there is a majority of smokers (and if non-smokers have no troubles with it) the place becomes a smoking place. If there is a majority of non-smokers, smokers smoke outside. So simple... No law, no fine, just savoir-vivre...

Best law is the Spanish one.

I used to work at the Okura hotel.Between shifts and sometimes overnight i would take keys from the reception and have a little sleep in one of the rooms.My time in Amsterdam came to a very abrupt end when it was discovered that i was up to no good with the shift managers wife.

I ended my time in Holland living in a place called Maarssenbroek. In those days (1982)not even the Dutch had heard of this place. My last job was serving beer and smoking in 'The Guardian' Pub in Utrecht. Happy days. As it happens,i prefer Utrecht to Amsterdam.

Martijn de Blaauw wrote: (and a house that was still affordable, is this a good English word?)

Yes, "affordable" works for me. :)

The party is far from over here, I tell ya.

General hilarity about the new laws from everyone I've spoken to.

It's a bit like banning whisky and coke by making everyone drink neat whisky said one taxi driver.

The DIFFERENCE IS you can go into a coffee bar for a joint,But you CANNOT drink. End of!

Enjoyed Amsterdamage when i went last year apart fom all the stoned English young ens.

Red light district is well scary after dark tho!

You can't drink alcohol in the coffee shops, but some of the bars allow smoking weed inside. I guess that will stop come the end of the month when the street outside every bar will be home to a permanent huddle of smokers. My experience of the smoking ban in Scotland has been that some streets in the centre are now dominated by this. Smoke fills the air and sometimes the smokers feel the need to speak to you. It's a strange thing to go out with a smoker as well. Everyone nips off for a piss from time to time, you loose the smokers twice as much as they nip out for a fag occasionally too. The benefits are great though; you can go for a couple of drinks after work without worrying that your clothes will stink of smoke the next day. As someone who occasionally lit up when in the company of people who were smoking, there's a real benefit as I would rarely go outside to smoke, particularly on a cold day.

I'll be interested in seeing the effect the ban has in Holland. Everywhere I've been that has introduced a similar ban has seen pretty good adherence, with the dramatic exception of Spain. I'd love to hear the whole story of how the legislation collapsed, the story I heard had the Police, newsagents and bar owners colluding in a fantastic campaign that resulted in just about every bar in the country exempting itself and the smoking continues. I have only ever seen on bar, arguably a restaurant, with a no smoking sign on display and when I pointed it out to my friend the barman instantly offered to take it down.

Have Greece banned smoking yet? That's another country where I wouldn't imagine a ban would go down too well.