The sale of Drugs in the Netherlands is "illegal but not punishable."
As a lawyer, this is clearly a legal oddity that I must explore. I leave on Saturday for some field research into the issue.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
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8 comments:
That sounds like a fun profession for a lawyer - legal oddity hunter. You peruse the statute-books of the world, haunt the court-rooms of exotic countries, hunting down and analysing legal oddities.
have fun!
Your field research should be easy enough. If you enter any of the lanes of the red light area (take any tram going to the Centraal Station and get down at Dam, and then wander in), there'll be a lot of people standing around at the crossroads offering their goods. If you find that shady, you could try spending your day at the Rijsmuseum or the Heineken brewery and then take a night cruise from there. When you come back after the cruise, the area will be quite deserted and as you walk down the banks of the Amstel, you'll find one or two people lounging about carrying satchels. For the soft drugs, you simply walk into cafes. There's one which is known as smokers' paradise (forgot the name of the place) - it's in an area called Venice of Amsterdam and you can get there by boat.
Oh, and you'll love the city - the primary mode of travel is bikes!
Maybe they just frown at you. Maybe thats bad enough in Their Culture. Not punishment by international standards.
And of course, get high in the process.
take lots of notes :)
Maybe they just want the offenders to feel guilty about their acts and make them writhe from within.... Gandhian style of punishment maybe- mental suffering....
Instead of buying the offender dinner, they insist on going Dutch?
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