Going to Pot

It seems to be a classic case of being a victim of its own success. For a long time, Holland has been a very tolerant society on the use of marijuana, thus, inadvertently, creating a tourism niche for itself. Apparently, it has gotten to a point in which this has become a problem. So, the Dutch government has moved to limit the selling of small amounts in coffee shops to its own citizens, with some other restrictions.

What seemed like a good idea at first, an enlightened approach to the universal tendency to use drugs, has turned into a questionable image for the country. It is certainly not a positive thing for a nation to be visited by a large number of people aiming to smoke pot. The Dutch were extremely naive in thinking that something like selling it in coffee houses would not get out of hand. There are just too many potheads in the world, and many of them would surely take advantage of something like this.

Now, the whole thing has gone to pot, with owners of  these establishments and the tourism industry defending the continued sale of weed, surely, not a pretty sight.

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