In another unintended consequence, several border towns complain of the burdens associated with a weekly influx of tens of thousands of tourists, mainly Belgian, French and German.

Among recent steps taken to deal with these problems, Amsterdam has said it would halve its number of coffee shops, citing criminality, while other cities are to close those within a certain radius of schools.

Interesting the reports that are put out. I read one tonight which said all the cafes were being forced to ban smoking of cannabis and cigs, probably kreteks too. Can't remember which source though.

@Tabsey: Earlier this year, it became illegal to smoke inside pubs etc. as a result, you cannot smoke tobacco in a coffeeshop in the Netherlands either. This means people smoke the stuff pure now, no real change really.