Posted on 12/07/2008 7:29:01 AM PST by Maelstorm
... Opponents of the clean-up - including coffee-shop owners and the prostitutes' union, De Rode Draad (Red Thread), which represents 20,000 Dutch prostitutes - told The Observer yesterday that they believed that, far from reducing crime, it would encourage drug dealers and prostitutes to go underground in areas where they were banned.
They also warned that the new clampdown on drugs and the sex industry would have a profound effect on the economics of a city famous for both things. 'Amsterdam is the city of sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll,' said Metje Blaak, a spokeswoman for De Rode Draad, which provides health screening and other training for its members.
'Now we have no sex. No drugs. The women will go on the streets and to the hotels. It is very bad, not least in terms of women's health and safety. The mayor has not listened to the women or the coffee shops,' she added.
She also blamed the European Union for pressurising Holland into tightening its laws. 'Once we were a free country,' she said. 'Now they tell us what to do.'
Prostitution will now be permitted in only two areas, including De Wallen (The Walls) - a web of streets and alleys around the city's medieval retaining dam walls. The area has been a centre of prostitution since before the city's golden shipping age in the 17th century.
The city said yesterday it would offer retraining to prostitutes and coffee-shop employees who lost their jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
Retraining prostitutes? What are they going to retrain prostitutes to do? Run for Congress?
So much for the nonsensical libertarian platform.
???
If adding regulation adds to crime, then it’s not not proof that the activity itself is the problem, any more than the increase in crime when handguns are restricted makes the handgun responsible for the crime!
You libs never cease to amaze me with your twisted contortions to justify government power.
“And retraining for prostitutes and drug dealers? “
Retrain a prostitute. How many continuing education credits is that class worth?
I’m not arguing for the legalization of prostitution or drugs (nor do I support a libertarian platform), but if I had a choice between walking to a hotel from a bar in Amsterdam or any major US city at 2AM... I’d choose Amsterdam 100% of the time.
Well she could go in to politics. I am sure there are plenty of opportunites to ply your trade.
What about islamists? Brave Dutch.
Let them move to the country the Libertarians created all on their own. Oh that’s right, they only parasitise countries built by non-Libertarians.
No re-training necessary.
It’s a governemtal program. They’ll train the prostitutes to be drug dealers and drug dealers to be prostitutes.
Once while “window shopping” in Amsterdam - I mentioned to my local colleague that it puzzled me how the “shop worn merchandise” on display can attract any customers....
He replied most of the “Johns” were “Abdul” from the middle-east or “Shaka Zulu” wannabes from Africa — paying the rate to have their fat ugly blond....
Take notice of the interracial couples you see on your streets —— half of the “teams” contain what?
A fat ugly “blond”!
It could be that islam is behind this. That country is already lost to islam.
And they blithely assume that this latest government edict has already reduced any real "crime."
They're real believers in the efficacy of government when it comes to enforcing their own particular brand of personal morality, if nothing else.
The proponent of these actions contradicts you:
'Money laundering, extortion and human trafficking are things you do not see, but they are hurting people and the city. The new reality will be more in line with our image as a tolerant and crazy place, rather than a free zone for criminals,' said Alderman Lodewijk Asscher, one of the main proponents of the plan. 'We can still have sex and drugs, but in a way that shows the city is in control."
Proponents of legalization contend that bringing these activities out of the underground makes it easier to regulate and minimize the most negative aspects of them.
Really?
Amsterdam, the murder capital of the Netherlands, had a murder rate of about 3.6/100,000 in 2007. San Jose, one of the safest cities in the US with a population over 500,000, had a murder rate of 3.5/100,000 in 2007.
Sources:
www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Record-low-murder-rate-once-again.html
city-data.com
Prostitute Unions....
Man, I hate those mandatory coffee breaks...
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