Amsterdam Cracks Down on ‘Cannabis Cafés’

Travel Blog • Valerie Conners • 11.21.08 | 11:46 AM ET

Photo by shelleylyn via Flickr (Creative Commons).

While we’ve covered the growing conservative tide in this notoriously liberal town, it now seems that mood has yielded the decision to close nearly one-fifth of Amsterdam’s marijuana-selling coffee shops—specifically those deemed too close to city schools. The decision has—not surprisingly—stirred controversy. “We don’t think it’s very useful,” said one school principal. “Children will get their drugs if they want to anyway.”