Yesterday I just missed being a witness to this news story, when I went out to do some banking. Just as I approached the bank I saw that the street was blocked off by police cars. I thought someone must have tried to rob the bank, but I parked the car anyway and went to check, and found that I could still go to the bank. The robbery was at a party pill shop further up the road.
I believe these pills are illegal in many countries. In New Zealand, the shops that sell them are springing up all over the place. I'm not sure whether I think the pills should be illegal. Alcohol was illegal during Prohibition, and that didn't work too well. There seem to be calls to make all sorts of things illegal, on the grounds that they are a Bad Thing. OK, there are lots of Bad Things. It's not, in general, a good idea to go around being rude to everybody you meet, but it's not illegal. It's not illegal to have an affair with a married man. Or to drink to excess. Or many other things. The fact that the shops attract robberies isn't really an argument either - electronics shops, liquor stores, banks, are all targets for robberies but we don't ban them. Still, I don't think that these pills are a good thing. And the shops look really sleazy. But then, so did the condom shop I saw in Surfers Paradise. Condoms, of course, are entirely necessary and useful at times. But I can't quite see the need for a whole shop dedicated to them.
Anyway, the story made the front page of the paper. And that, I think is a good thing. If it ever gets common enough not to make the front page of the paper, that's the time to start worrying.
Friday, July 28, 2006
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7 comments:
A condom store??? It must be a status symbol, fad thing {I hope}
Hi here by way of Michele's
Happy weekend
I'm not sure what a party pill shop is? I guess I can imagine what sort of pills they might be selling at this store because you liken them to parties, alcohol and the likes. Michele sent me to ask all these questions.
I find the concept of a party pill store a bit mind-blowing, but then I come from a country founded by Puritans where there are still dry counties that ban the sale of alcohol (I live in one) and where they'll show people getting blown up on TV but not frontal nudity. BAH! Humbug! So as strange as a pill store seems to me at first, it really is no more illogical than a liquor store.
I'm glad you weren't caught in the middle of it all, C!
Well that's a new one! I've never heard of a party pill shop. I guess it's similar to the ones in the Netherlands that sell marijuana?
I think it would be exactly like the ones in the Netherlands that sell marijuana. They have names like "herbal heaven" and they sell pills like BZP which are mild substitutes for methamphetamine, ecstasy etc and which are not actually herbal at all. They also I believe sell balloons containing nitrous oxide...I'm speaking entirely from hearsay as I've never been in one and don't want to (unless it's resesarch for a novel :) )
Maybe I'll post a photo of the condom shop sometime. It was called "Condomania". Up until then, I never imagined there were enough kinds of condoms to fill a whole shop. Surfers of course is a "party" resort. Like a place US college students might flock to on spring break.
Deb, there might be still "dry" electorates in New Zealand - there certainly were when I was a child and young adult.
I think "Condomania" is a GREAT name for a store!!! :-D
Sounds like something out of a novel!
I used to spend a lot of time in Amsterdam and the scene you describe is mainly located in a particular area.
There are also magic mushroom shops and of course the area is also well known for the red light district as well as the (ahem) coffie shops.
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