Word: vans
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...action starts in 1970 when heavily armed urban guerrillas rob a Brink's armored truck at a Massachusetts shopping mall. Two years later the merry band empties a Wells Fargo van in the same general area. "We're not dealing here & with a group of retards, my friends," says Inspector John D. Richards of the state police. "These are sharp minds we've got on our hands, making these withdrawals...
...van Thijn considers himself a tolerant man, but he readily admits that he is no longer as broad-minded as he was when he became mayor of Amsterdam in 1983. At that time the Dutch city of 700,000 was notorious as the drug capital of Europe, a place where hashish was smoked openly in cafes and dealers peddled their wares with impunity. In the past few years, however, Amsterdam -- and indeed all of Holland -- has begun to question the freewheeling ways that have long characterized Dutch society. From sex to drugs to welfare, the Dutch are increasingly wondering...
...Mayor Van Thijn reflects the country's new mood. He has turned tough, albeit reluctantly, cracking down on Amsterdam's drug dealers, rioting squatters and other criminals. Van Thijn, who confesses that, like most of his countrymen, he took a lenient attitude toward drug abuse in the 1970s, now looks back in anger. "In the past 15 years," he says, "tolerance became synonymous with permissiveness, weakheartedness and softness on law-and-order. Today backlash and debate about where Dutch society is going...
...license, is echoed in all the industrialized democracies. In fact, the rates of divorce, juvenile crime and unwed motherhood remain lower in the Netherlands than in most other European countries and the U.S. "Let us remember that we have an open society, a nice, friendly, clean country," says Cees van Lede, president of the Federation of Netherlands Industry. Nonetheless, the discussion has taken on a special urgency in the Netherlands, which has long enjoyed a reputation for social experiment and enlightened attitudes, as well as unorthodox solutions. As a result, the Dutch stir up controversy when they argue, drawing worldwide...
...facto legality of marijuana and other soft drugs is a vivid example of what Erasmus University Sociologist Jan van Doorn calls the Dutch practice of "repressive tolerance." He argues that much of the country's leniency is actually "tactical," in that it is aimed at isolating and controlling a problem "under supervision of the authorities." The technique has long been used in the Netherlands. As Van Doorn explains, "Allow open prostitution, but limit it to certain neighborhoods, that is, the notorious walletjes ((red- light districts)) in Amsterdam and other cities." Similarly, the sale of soft drugs is condoned at certain...