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Anyone from over there have any light to shed on this story?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38750521/ns/world_news-the_new_york_times

Why else would anyone go to the Netherlands?

Albatross wrote:Why else would anyone go to the Netherlands?

To climb the mountains?

Albatross wrote:Why else would anyone go to the Netherlands?

Legalized prostitution and wooden shoes of course...

You guys are being stereotypical. They come to us because we are like America but without stupid laws and other annoying things.

and ofcourse, tulips.

First off, I had never heard, nor cared, of Maastricht before this article. All I know of similarity, is that Amsterdam is frequented by stupid American College kids who go there so they can get wasted and bang hookers legaly while they are on spring break, with their parents money. Were it not for that trade, why would there be any tourist industry in the first place? Sorry Holland, we can import your cheese just fine, just not your hash and hookers, and that's why our dumb college kids go there and help your economy by doing so.

I don't like governmental restrictions on substances, not because I am a user, I just believe it is a personal decision and the person who makes that decision will waste his own money on his own crap and suffer his own circumstances that come from it. But seriously... If you don't like it, citizens of Maasricht, just make it illegal, and watch how many people come to visit any more. Have fun with that. Nobody goes to that area of the world to look at the windmills. Sorry but your town sucks if it wasn't for drugs and dumb American kids feeding your economy with their parents money.

I have historical family ties to Holland, but no interest in prostitutes. There are some tulips in a vase on my living room table - I don't need to go overseas to see them. I know plenty of people who could help me get my hands on all sorts of drugs, and a short walk up Oxford street could probably meet me a few more, but I'm not in the market. Hell, I used to live 20 minutes from the Aussie town of Nimbin, where weed practically is legal. Except in front of cops.

Australia has windmills like this, made of metal:

Here is a picture of me windmilling, whilst playing metal:

Coc0loc0 wrote:You guys are being stereotypical. They come to us because we are like America but without stupid laws and other annoying things.

and ofcourse, tulips.

Hey, what's better than roses on your piano?

Guitardian wrote: why would there be any tourist industry in the first place? .

http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=101&lang=en

http://www.annefrank.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escher_Museum

etc etc ad nauseum.

Wait the Netherlands is like, a real country?

Wow?

Why?

Frazzled wrote:Why?

Been around longer than other so-called countries

Not if mother nature has anything to say about it.

SilverMK2 wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Why?

Been around longer than other so-called countries

Yeah I thought it used to be called "Hades", or "the Underworld" or something, where dead people wander around like zombies. I believe the name has some kind of connection to such ideas.

Frazzled wrote:Not if mother nature has anything to say about it.

Pah! and Fie!

The Dutch literally made their own country by reclaiming it from under the sea.

They also became undisputed experts at slave trade, founded the settlements in Michigan (home of Detroit! you're welcome) and are responsible for the existance of South African Apartheid government. Yeah... if not for your drugs and your hookers I don't think you'd get much tourism. They sell bumper stickers in northern Michigan that say "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much". I doubt if any of theose 'dutch' people why fly said sticker could even find it on a map, let alone having been there if it wasn't for the drugs n hos their kids go for.

I'm pretty sure that plenty of people who identify as Dutch would know where it is on a map, and not have to find it. Am I giving Michigan too much credit?

yes yes you are. Much of Detroit probably couldn't find Detroit on a map Or spell it. Sad sad place. Oddly enough, much of Detroit is populated by people whos ancestors came here as Dutch slaves, and yet the white folks around there still flaunt their Dutch heritage like some badge of pride.

I call state-ism on that!

Guitardian wrote:They also became undisputed experts at slave trade, founded the settlements in Michigan (home of Detroit! you're welcome) and are responsible for the existance of South African Apartheid government. Yeah... if not for your drugs and your hookers I don't think you'd get much tourism. They sell bumper stickers in northern Michigan that say "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much". I doubt if any of theose 'dutch' people why fly said sticker could even find it on a map, let alone having been there if it wasn't for the drugs n hos their kids go for.

Didn't they also found New Amsterdam - ala New York
Weren't they also the only naval power ever to defeat the Brits, sailing a fleet up the Thames?

Guitardian wrote:First off, I had never heard, nor cared, of Maastricht before this article. All I know of similarity, is that Amsterdam is frequented by stupid American College kids who go there so they can get wasted and bang hookers legaly while they are on spring break, with their parents money. Were it not for that trade, why would there be any tourist industry in the first place? Sorry Holland, we can import your cheese just fine, just not your hash and hookers, and that's why our dumb college kids go there and help your economy by doing so.

I don't like governmental restrictions on substances, not because I am a user, I just believe it is a personal decision and the person who makes that decision will waste his own money on his own crap and suffer his own circumstances that come from it. But seriously... If you don't like it, citizens of Maasricht, just make it illegal, and watch how many people come to visit any more. Have fun with that. Nobody goes to that area of the world to look at the windmills. Sorry but your town sucks if it wasn't for drugs and dumb American kids feeding your economy with their parents money.

The dutch economy will allways be bouyant then,
Plenty of dumb americans about

well yeah old fart Loki, that's why I'm saying they should probably not regulate the only thing that brings dumb american college student tourists over there. Quitcherbitchin, right? If the only thing my town offered that any outside wanted was magic beans either, I would be pretty fething stupid to complain about the fact that everybody only came there for the magic beans.

Most tourists here in Holland are Japanese. Or at least in the part where i live.

Also we have a saying here:

"God created earth, the Dutch created the Netherlands."

Kilkrazy wrote:

Frazzled wrote:Not if mother nature has anything to say about it.

Pah! and Fie!

The Dutch literally made their own country by reclaiming it from under the sea.

Yeah, ask the citizens of New Orleans how that plan pans out.

Pot is legal in a place. College kids go there to get their crunk on. Crime rate rises as a result.

NEWS AT ELEVEN

The dutch also found Australia.

I thought that was Captain Cook?

Frazzled wrote:
Didn't they also found New Amsterdam - ala New York
Weren't they also the only naval power ever to defeat the Brits, sailing a fleet up the Thames?

I mentioned earlier in this thread that I have historical family ties to the Netherlands... in particular the dreaded Lieutenant-Admiral Michiel Adrianszoon de Ruyter, who was personally responsible for that little incident with the Thames estuary and a certain devastating fire...

Frazzled wrote:I thought that was Captain Cook?

Cook was also famously eaten. We love our political leaders around here. You're thinking of 'founded'.

I am sure that the Netherlands has plenty of things other then legalised drugs and hookers to entice tourists, but when you name any country there are certain things which spring to mind, especialy when it comes to reasons for visiting them. For people visiting Britain it is probably all about London and Castles, with France the Eiffel tower and the cafe culture, with the Netherlands it's sex and drugs. The thing is making it illegal will damage the tourist industry, the Dutch will have to work out if the money raised from tourists outweights the costs of cleaning up after them. It probably does. So how to disuade tourists from getting out of hand? I have always said that disproportionate fines tend to put people off petty crimes, if someone has a few spliffs and goes home quitely to sleep it off then thats all good, but if instead they go out have a few beers and smash up a bus stop then a £2000 fine ought to be enough to teach them and others a lesson.

Charge more for your drugs! Still gonna get tourists, they won't be able to afford as many drugs and the extra revenue can pay for better police and clean up services. So a tax hike maybe instead of a price hike. A tax that locals don't have to pay might be better.

Aren't some of the greatest international metal bands from there, or is that just a stereotype?

This is the part of the story I thought really sucked, the loss of a sovereign nations ability to pass laws within it's own borders. Not sure how that works, but damn, as a citizen of one of those countries I think I'd be pissed at some other country or group of countries telling me what laws can be passed.



"It is an attraction Maastricht and other Dutch border cities would now gladly do without. Struggling to reduce traffic jams and a high crime rate, the city is pushing to make its legalized use of recreational drugs a Dutch-only policy, banning sales to foreigners who cross the border to indulge. But whether the European Union’s free trade laws will allow that is another matter.


But Mr. Bot’s finding, a veritable tirade on the evils of drugs, surprised many legal scholars, who expected the European Union’s open market rules to trump any public order arguments, as they have in other cases. Sweden, for instance, which has a long history of struggling with alcohol abuse, was obliged to take down most of its anti-alcohol laws restricting store hours and sales, as they were seen as impinging on free trade. "

Just don't go to the sinkhole and leave 'em to their drug bs, understand that the only tourists you get are because of that. Sorry your country sucks and people only go there for the cheap legal drugs. You don't like it? go sell post cards of windmills. Or spread apartheid again to get more tourists you can whine about.