NYT via MSNBC, a decent story on coffee shops in the Netherlands outside of Amsterdam.

In recent years, crime in Maastricht, a city of cobblestone lanes and medieval structures, has included a shootout on the highway, involving a Bulgarian assassin hired to kill a rival drug producer.

Sounds like an effing awesome film…

The author doesn’t quite make the connection: the crime is a result of the “back door” problem — that retail is legal while wholesale is not. And comparing crime between Dutch cities is a bit of a herring as well — Dutch crime rates are extremely low, so doubling them isn’t challenging.

Cudos tho for calling out the other Eurozone nations: de facto legalization through border-hopping is a jerk move.