This HuffPost article is promoting on their front page...
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.
I love Amsterdam. I've been there nine times, I think. My memory is a little hazy. I've taken my wife and kids. The last few times I've been there I rented an apartment and a bike and bought groceries and lived for a week or so like a resident. Don't get me wrong. All the touristy stuff - the coffee shops, sex shows and girls - I did all that, too.
I still think is a good movie on the part of the Dutch. I don't think this shows of failure of freedom but the failure of walling off all the 'vice' businesses in one area. The Red Light District IS a bit scary. I've seen thick necked Eastern European dudes slapping a woman around in the alleys there. (I hung out until the police came.) There are little rip-off shops that overcharge stoned tourists for food.
Get out of the RLD in neighborhoods where coffee shops that sell weed are next to sandwich shops that sell Belegde broodjes and it's a much nicer situation. So the problem isn't the hookers and stoners, it's the over-concentration of those things. So next time you hear some smug conservative crow about even Amsterdam is scaling back, tell them to put that in their pipe and smoke it.