World’s first Ecstasy shop to open in Amsterdam on Monday

Just when you thought that the liberal clubbing capital of Amsterdam couldn't get anymore lenient or progressive in its drug policy, the Dutch Liberal Democrats youth wing have announced that for one day they will be opening the world's first MDMA shop in order to highlight the need for harm reduction over prohibition.

With the shop set to open its doors at 11am Monday morning at 10 Rosmarijnsteeg in Amsterdam's city center, the progressive political group's intention is to display "why regulation is better than leaving the distribution to illegal street dealers", and to keep within the confines of the current law they will be handing out placebos*.

They explained on their site MDMJA.nl: "We can prevent minors from buying, make sure there is no overdose in pills and educate people on ways to minimize the risks involved with ecstasy-usage."

Open only for a single day, the shop aims to bring the conversation of MDMA decriminalisation to the Dutch parliament, in the hope that they can educate people at a grassroots level of the dangers of drug use. The group require 40,000 signatures on their site MDMJA in order to bring the issue up for debate.

Last year it was reported that three people died as a result of MDMA consumption at ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event), and the country, which is widely known for its decriminalisation of cannabis, has often lead the way in conversations about drug harm reduction and progressive addiction programs.

[Via: Pulse]

* Article amended on 16/5/2015 to explain that all pills distributed will be placebos.