Coffeeshops and the terrible public smoking ban.

[Guest]

The hell with it, why stop there - ban everything. Stay home and wallow in your pristine environment.

Gimme a break - you can have hookers, drunks and punks, and you want to pick on the smokers? Ban it all if you're gonna ban something I say.

I'm one of those nasty friggin smokers that mess up your air worse than your diesel exhausts and lawn mowers, not to mention smokestacks, jets, cars, perfume and trash & campfires. I don't smoke in public or around anyone out of respect for your preferences, however mislead they may be. I can't get the same respect for my preferences - funny how that works. We can't smoke in the wilderness hiking trails or city parks, or our own cars - when will you be happy that you've eradicated your planet with us nasty smokers.

The Safe Working Environment laws were a good thing to pass but then you bible thumpers and better than thou know-it-alls had to take it beyond reason so much so that the originator of the law turned on you and admits that it's now become a matter of one group forcing their will on another. It no longer has anything to do with health issues - because you can't stand it no one should do it.

And for those asshats that smoke and think the world is your ashtray, you're using up precious resources the civilized world can use. If smokers had common sense and respect for others, laws to protect yourself from yourself wouldn't be needed. But go ahead, ban smoking and anything else you don't agree with - you're doing a great job so far.

Sorry for the rant, but this smoking thing is just getting to dam ridiculous to comprehend. Concerts full of smoke??? Where do you find one that smoking is allowed? Clean up your own backyard before you force others to live the way you think they should. So you took care of smoke in your home, how about the chemicals you use that are toxic and far worse with exposure than second hand smoke. The day is coming when you will have your way and everything will be banned to your liking, in the meantime give us smokers a hint of peace and understanding - we're too dumb to do it all ourselves, we need you to police us, fine us, and if necessary lock us up because we don't live or think like you.

 

[Alex-F]

Concerts full of smoke??? Where do you find one that smoking is allowed?

Germany, we're still land of the smokers.

Seriously though, most venues/halls concerts are held in weren't built for that, proper clubs have air conditioning. I couldn't immagine a smoke free club, it's part of the experience, but concerts are too much sometimes.

 

[Chamba]

one must keep in mind that second-hand smoke is far more preferable to second-hand drink!

da-da-dah!

and I really don't care if other people smoke...just so long as they don't catch on fire!


da-da-dah

 

[Guest]

lil more A'dam news

lil more A'dam news

Amsterdam cracks down on Red Light



AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Authorities announced a major crackdown on organized crime in Amsterdam's Red Light District on Thursday, for the first time bringing national police investigators and tax authorities to bear on what had long been seen as a local problem.

With its scantily clad prostitutes posing in brothel windows and coffee shops oozing the pungent aroma of marijuana smoke, the area's seediness has always been part of its attraction.

But the district is a magnet for petty criminals and, authorities believe, human traffickers, drug lords and mobsters who take advantage of the situation to launder money.

Prostitution is legal in the Netherlands, and coffee shops are licensed to sell small amounts of marijuana. But prostitutes don't have cash registers and drug vendors don't give receipts, making it easy for them to launder money for crime lords.

Authorities said they hope to detect and prosecute money-laundering by building a national database of tax returns and other information that would allow them to compare cafe and brothel owners' legal income to assets they hold around the country. And local authorities promised to enforce other existing laws more strictly.

"Our aim is simple: to get rid of the criminal part of the Red Light District," said Justice Ministry spokesman Wim van der Weegen.

Amsterdam has been conducting its own cleanup program for nearly five years, using a 2002 law that forces business operators to disclose detailed accounting in order to have their licenses renewed.

Last year, the city used the law to order the closure of one-third of all brothels in the Red Light District that were unable to comply.

But Amsterdam's District Court blocked the closures while brothel owners fight the decision. That case is still making its way through the courts.

City spokeswoman Marga Kuperus said women, especially illegal immigrants, are often forced into prostitution, but few dare to file complaints for fear of immigration authorities or of retaliation from their pimps.

Minor drug dealers operate on the street with impunity. Drug lords and human smuggling rings are believed to control the area, and the city has witnessed a series of gangland killings in recent years.

The connection between the underground and the legal "is one of the things we're trying to get a grip on," by cooperating with national authorities, Kuperus said.

The Red Thread, a prostitutes' rights organization, welcomed the announcement.

"We've been pleading for something like this for years," spokeswoman Metje Blaak said.

She said Amsterdam police had agreed to respond quickly to any calls for help from prostitutes who are being harassed by criminals.

If the men can't identify themselves, they'll be in trouble for violating the country's national ID law, introduced in 2003; and if they are criminals, they'll be arrested.

"The hope is just that this will chase them away from the area," she said.

 

[phatboyslim]

Tobacco sucks in all ways. It is useless, addictive, and dangerous beyond belief. You are being used by the money-grubbing, health-snubbing, horribly corrupt tobacco companies. If you smoke...? Quit.

Smoke Organic Pot. Pure.

Agreed

 

[BadKarma]

Its sad to see so many growers who will get into bed with "The Man" to take away someone elses freedoms. Just shows how poor the education system is when it comes to how the Government works. Smokers today YOU next.
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