Nobody would argue that Amsterdam is back on track in being a hot spot for young travelers. As one of Europe’s coolest capitals nowadays, it’s narrow streets are filled with tourists who don’t only want to visit the internationally acknowledged and recently reopened museums, but who also come to party. Youngsters from all over the world are attracted by the spectacular music festivals, crazy night clubs and laid back coffee shops, well aware of the fact that the use of soft drugs is not illegal in Holland.
However, there is a serious downside to this, since some tourist switch to hard drugs instead. As these drugs are as illegal in the Netherlands as anywhere else, you cannot buy them in a shop like marijuana. Rogue dealers make use of this situation by selling cocaine, xtc and heroin on the street – but not always good stuff. Sometimes they sell aspirine, sometimes they sell a mix of flower and some drugs of bad quality, or even worse. In November 2014, several tourists were hospitalized after snorting white heroin that was sold to them as cocaine. Three of them died.
After that, the Amsterdam authorities launched a campaign to inform young people about these dangers. Nowadays, all over the city center matrix boards can be found flashing warning signs to unsuspecting visitors. The drugs alert seems to work: nobody has died of using white heroin since then. In the meanwhile, these signs have become an attraction by themselves. Authorities openly warning for the use of bad drugs? How cool!
