el_richo

I've worked in Amsterdam on and off over the past 4 years until a travel ban came into effect within my company and my own personal experience shows the rebellious streak remains with the "Non Dutch". Yes the Dutch are open minded and accepting BUT the actually people who let their hair down and make the most of the "legalities" on offer are generally the visitors and non native residents.

I personally don't feel safe in Amsterdam and don't really like the place. Many other areas in Holland are beautiful though.

Londonuck

Really?

I've always found Amsterdam really safe compared with London. Mind you, im i havent been in the burbs of Amsterdam and im usually not all there while wandering the canals. Im very fond of the Dutch, nice people.

el_richo

Oh the Dutch appear very nice. Like i said, it's the non native residents who i'm cautious of.

dbd33

FWIW, my FIL is a shrink working for the VA, he deals with lots of addictions, PTSD and so on. According to him heroin is quite easy to kick, he deals with a number of people who routinely used it in Vietnam but stopped when they came home, "it's just a physcological addiction", he has a ranking of other drugs headed by alcohol "physical and mental, the hardest to kick". I should not like his scale to be used to determine relative legality.

Brownstar

Tobacco is an easy drug to kick, the chemical addiction is gone in about 3 days, its the psychological addiction thats the hardest to kick. Saying that, tobacco and smoking cigarettes are far more dangerous to your health then heroin.

The human race is predisposed to enjoy getting 'off their faces' and addictions. We consume a vast amount of 'drugs' daily, caffeine, chocolate & cheese release endorphines, exercise does the same, evangelical pentecostals in the US get a massive high from their services.................its just that some of them are illegal, unregulated and run by criminals.

el_richo

I guess the big difference is that a person can continue functioning quite well after a cigarette / coffee / mars bar / cheese and crakers / verbal excrement exchange from a preacher etc etc. Not so much after shooting heroin, smoking crack and such like.

I'm not sure smoking cigs is far more dangerous to your health than heroin. More accessible and widely used, yes. I guess time will tell whether it's possible to be a heroin addict from the age of 11 up to your 80s and live a "normal" life. Plus i've seen many people ravaged by Heroin within a few years compared to a smoker of the same period.

I'm not sure i'm predisposed to addictions or "getting off my face" but i do enjoy the occasional adrenalin rush for sure.

Brownstar

Tobacco is, its a proven fact, heroin is less harmful its the stuff its cut with that causes the problems. People can function perfectly well in 'normal' society when on a controlled methodone program. I'm not condoning heroin/methodone use, but if people do use it then give them clean stuff and educate them to get off it.

When on a high from heroin I'd guess the user can function about as well as someone who's had 5 pints!