More rumblings from Amsterdam about how officials want to clean up the city's image, this time by requiring a three-day waiting period before buying magic mushrooms - which is a little bit better than the hysterical shriekings we heard earlier this summer about a complete ban, but not as a good as, say, having mushrooms hand-delivered to your hotel along with a gigantic spliff.
After a spate of injuries to tourists jumping from hotel balconies, [Mayor] Cohen wants to force buyers of magic mushrooms to give three days’ notice in person. Gos Kamsma, who manages a back-alley “smart shop” selling a range of hallucinogenic fungi, said that the measure would only increase criminality. “It will affect me for sure because most tourists come on Friday so they won’t be able to buy mushrooms. But the dealers on the street will be the winners. They will sell it straight away.”
Of course, with such a clear connection between magic mushrooms and jumping off hotel balconies, one wonders if there isn't something particularly dangerous about these balconies - but I guess the hotel lobby isn't about to let their balconies be criminalized, and so innocent mushrooms have to suffer. It's just a shame. At any rate, get your vacation to Amsterdam on before the inevitable march of progress turns that city into just another quaint little town with no actual charm (and a lot less drugs and prostitution).
