booze babes and chronic

James Joyner writes about his trip to Amsterdam, and most of what he writes I agree with. Outside of briefly chatting with some fellow bloggers, he and his wife walked 10 miles a day (!) looking for hookers and druggies. But seemingly to their surprise found clean streets and well-behaved people--plus a few old hookers in basements. And then there's this:

A policy of social tolerance combined with public education may well be a saner approach. I wouldn't want to emulate Holland's social welfare system or tax rates. But we may have something to learn from their attitude toward vice.

We could probably get into long discussions about the Hanseatic origins of one country vs. Puritan establishment of another, etc., etc, but sufficce it to say, you can't have one without the other. If you don't have the generous welfare system, you would find the bums out on the street begging for money and though prostitution is "legal" it is highly regulated and taxed.