Photos

Texto em português mais abaixo.
Coffee is not the main business of the Netherlands' Coffeeshops. These are the places where you can legally buy and consume the so-called soft drugs, such as marijuana or hashish. You can buy also the seeds of the grass in Growshops; there are even Cannabis Starters Kits on sale at the Flower Market. Or, if you fancy, go to a supermarket and buy a cannabis beer.
Coffeshops and the tolerance towards soft drugs is a hallmark of the openness and liberal policies in the Netherlands. But it is not a drugs paradise. There is no tolerance regarding hard drugs. Large quantities of soft drugs are also not allowed (but nobody explains how coffeeshops get their supplies).
Actually, contrary to tourists popular belief, they also do serve coffee in coffeeshops (the Dutch bland version, that is). Ironically, as you can freely buy and smoke a joint in coffeeshops, some of these places are not licensed to sell strong alcoholic beverages and in some you can't smoke tobbaco (owing to the new anti-tobbaco law in public places).
Anyway, do not confuse a coffeeshop with a café, a cafeteria or a koffiehuis.
This picture shows one of the 250 coffeeshops in Amsterdam.
Location in WikiMapia: 52.3662214, 4.8995174.
No liberal Reino dos Países Baixos, as chamadas drogas leves, como haxixe ou marijuana, são legalmente vendidas e consumidas em estabelecimentos com o enganador nome de coffeeshops.