Young Dems to sell "ecstasy" in Amsterdam; call for legalization

The Young Democrats, a youth wing of centrist political party D66, is opening "the world's first ecstasy-shop" in Amsterdam, the organization informs. The aim of the event it to raise public attention to legalization of the drug in the Netherlands. They plan to use the store to demonstrate why legalization is better than leaving things to the black market. "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," the organization announced. However, they are not planning to violate the law and confront authorities by selling the actual drug. "It will not be real ecstasy, but rather a placebo," Arnout Maat, the Young Democrats press officer, told the NL Times. The speaker did not disclose further details of the event specifying only that "people will not know what they receive." The Young Democrats also referenced three drug-related deaths around the time of last year's Amsterdam Dance Festival, saying consumers really do not know what they are getting when buying drugs off the street. The organizers expect a lot of media to be present at the event, Maat also mentioned. Young Democrats launched a citizen initiative called MDMJA (a combination of the active element of ecstasy, MDMA, with the Dutch word for 'yes'). The petition needs 40,000 sinatures for the Dutch parliament to address the issue. So far, the D66 youth wing was unable to convince the mother party of the necessity of a legalization initiative. For the time being, D66 is focusing solely on full legalization of marijuana production, according to Young Democrats.