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Monday, 17 November 2008 |
 Freddy Schaap, a grower of hallucinogenic mushrooms, is bitter about having to lay off half his staff on account of a Dutch government ban on his psychedelic produce."I will have to dismiss at least half of my 16 employees" when the ban on cultivating and selling the so-called magic mushrooms enters into force on December 1, Schaap told AFP on his farm in Tiel in the central Netherlands. McSmart, the business he created in 2000, produces some 25 tonnes a year of the substance known fondly by users as "shrooms" and in the Netherlands as "paddos". "The ban makes no sense," protests the 36-year-old entrepreneur, saying he felt angry and deceived. |
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Wednesday, 19 March 2008 |
 For years, the brothels' large street-side windows have showcased women of all races, wearing minute bits of clothing as they preened and beckoned customers. But in some windows, women have recently been replaced by plastic mannequins in designer clothes (Redlight Fashion).
The city council has voted to clean up the historic but notorious district. The city is buying up brothels, and it has lent the first 18 windows and boudoirs for one year to young designers and photographers. |
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Monday, 18 February 2008 |
 Amsterdam, famed for its red light prostitution district, gave escort services six weeks to apply for official city licenses. The girls working in window brothels are not affected by the new rules.
The order is part of a campaign to combat money laundering, human trafficking and abuse in the sex industry, which was legalized in the Netherlands in 2000. To obtain a license, escort agencies must have a fixed address and telephone number, and must guarantee that prostitutes are healthy and work in safe conditions, the city said. Escort agencies have six weeks to comply — or face being shut down. |
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Friday, 16 November 2007 |
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 Yab Yum, Amsterdam's best-known sex clubs has become the latest target of the city's crackdown on organized crime infiltration of the city's world famous sex industry.
The Yab Yum club, a brothel housed in an elegant canal house in the 17th century centre of Amsterdam, has long been an exclusive hangout for businessmen and tourists. The licence is now revoked because the owners are suspected of using their permit to commit criminal acts.
The brothel has a month to contest the decision in court. But the burden of proof falls entirely on the club to show all transactions were legal. |
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Friday, 12 October 2007 |
 Soon smartshops, of which there are many in the Red Light District of Amsterdam, will not be allowed to sell fresh magic mushrooms anymore. The Netherlands will ban the sale of hallucinogenic mushrooms, the government announced, tightening the country's famed liberal drug policies after the suicide of an intoxicated teenage girl.
The ban, in response to the death and other highly publicized adverse reactions involving the fungus, is the latest backlash against the freewheeling policies of the past.
Psilocybin, the main active chemical in the mushrooms, has been illegal under international law since 1971. However, fresh mushrooms continued to be sold legally in the Netherlands along with herbal medicines in so-called smart-shops. |
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