Amsterdam leads the way in challenging drug legalisation

For one day Amsterdam will be the only city in the world to have a dedicated ecstasy shop. Part of an initiative to push for legalising and regulating MDMA use, MDMJA has been launched by the Dutch Liberal Democrats youth wing. It comes in the wake of three deaths from MDMA consumption last year.

If you’re wondering how an MDMA shop in the centre of Amsterdam is allowed, the space will be handing out placebos rather than the real thing. It’s intended to show how legal sales could work — complete with age checks, information leaflets, and quality control measures to prevent poisoned pills entering circulation. Rather than encouraging the use of drugs, the shop wants to limit the damage the illegal drug market can create by educating users and taking the market off the street.

The hope is that the experiment will lead to the 40,000 signatures needed to bring the issue of decriminalisation up for debate in the Dutch parliament.

Clearly this is a store with a big concept. While it's commercial viability is, for the moment, on the back-burner, it ties in with a growing trend towards legalised and commercialised drug consumption. Eaze is a weed delivery service that allows users to browse through a hi-res menu of partners’ cannabis products, and have the product delivered within 10 minutes. And it also ties in with the rise of high concept stores, challenging consumer behaviour, like artificial meat restaurant Bistro in Vitro and gender equality shop <100.