Netherlands: World's first 'ECSTASY' shop opens to push legalisation envolope

In keeping with Amsterdam's reputation for liberal drug policies, the Dutch capital opened the world's first ever 'ecstasy' shop, Monday, in a bid to put the legalisation and normalisation of the drug on the Dutch political agenda. Thought up by the Young Democrats, the youth wing of the Dutch social-liberal political party D66, the pop-up shop distributed 'ecstasy' for one day, though the drugs were actually placebo pills so as not to break the law. A reported half a million Dutch people have taken the party drug before, with 40,000 admitting to taking ecstasy on a monthly basis, their only access to the drug through the black market. Due to the dangers involved with taking unregulated ecstasy, the Young Democrats hope to garner 40,000 signatures in support of the initiative to legalise the drug before they propose their agenda to the Dutch House of Representatives.