&Mdash;
Dude, your days of lighting up a joint in a Netherlands coffee shop are
numbered. Dutch authorities just plain got fed up with wrecked tourists. As
of Jan. 1, a new law will redefine marijuana-selling coffee shops in
southern Netherlands (Limburg and Zeeland, for example) as private clubs,
limited to 2,000 legal Dutch adults who are, quite literally, card-carrying
potheads. In January 2013, the same will apply to
Amsterdam and the rest of
the country.
This law wasn't passed lightly. It was highly debated by government officials,
some of whom expect a big drop in tourism as a result. I figure that
Amsterdam can expect a stampede of grass-roots tourists in 2012 before it
locks up the doobies.
But hey: You don't have to be stoned to get hooked on Amsterdam. There's
plenty to do sans cannabis, and, besides, you're less likely to get run over
by a bicyclist if you're not wasted. Come with me on a tour of the road not
token:
