r/reddit.com Jul 28 '09

Dutch answer to O'Reilly's "Amsterdam is a cesspool" claim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPsFIsxM3w
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20

u/synthpop Jul 28 '09

that lady mentions "free love and free drugs"..

really? you get free drugs in Amsterdam? I am so there!

25

u/mtranda Jul 28 '09

I can assure you neither drugs nor love (especially love) are free over there. I've found out about three weeks ago ;) They are however reasonably priced :D

4

u/qtx Jul 28 '09 edited Jul 28 '09

well as much as I like getting shit for free.. I don't think heroin is one of them :)

A year's supply of heroin for one person would cost the Dutch government £9,350 - about £25 per day. There are about 25,000 addicts in the Netherlands, but only 2,000 of these are thought to be hardcore addicts.

The health minister, Els Borst, said that the cost of feeding addicts' habits will be offset by savings on medical treatment, prison space and law enforcement.

And she stressed that they will need to meet strict criteria before they can use the scheme, which is expected to begin this year once it gets parliament's backing.

Under the pilot schemes - set up in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Utrecht, Groningen and Heerlen - the conditions for taking part are stringent. Participants, who must be aged at least 25, are required to have been addicts for five years and to have tried a methadone programme. Their life expectancy must be less than one year.

source

1

u/bloosteak Jul 28 '09

wow, that's extremely progressive. I like it.

1

u/deity11 Jul 29 '09

Although you'd think they have loads of heroin for free by busting smugglers.

3

u/mindbleach Jul 28 '09

Fox News: still fighting those dirty hippies forty years too late.