So Icelandic answer was to have government agnency handle that. And the current system of Vínbúðin monopoly born.

SURE FISY, BUT TODAY YOU CAN BUY ANY KIND OF WINE OR ALCOHOL FROM ANY COUNTRY. SO ACTUALLY VINBUÐ AND THE MONOPOLY DO NOT MAKE SENSE ANYMORE…

IT IS VERY ANOYING, NOT ONLY THE PRICES, BUT ALSO THE OPENING TIMES… WHILE IN EUROPE YOU CAN GET YOUR BEERS ANYWHERE IN ICELAND YOU HAVE TO WAIT AND GO THERE AS IF YOU WERE AN ALCOHOLIC AND THEN YOU SEE LOTS OF ALCOHOLICS GOING THERE TO BUY THEIR “SKAMMT”… SÓRLEGT!!

WHAT WE NEED IS NOT RESTRICTIONS, WHAT WE NEED IS CHEAPER PRICES AND THAT EVERYONE WITH THE RIGHT AGE CAN BUY AND CONSUME WITHOUT THIS TO BE A PAIN IN THE POCKET.

PEOPLE DRINK AS MUCH AS THEY CAN WHEN THEY CAN… THIS RESTRICTIONS JUST MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO DRINK MORE!!

LOL. where did you find this link, it is in dutch, can you understand it?
Offcourse Holland is famous for its wooden shoes, here you can see the production of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fhb6XfB9z9w&feature=related

You can see it in the open air museum in Arnhem (a really nice place btw)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9epnkfWkdc&feature=related

My old grandfather knew how to make these wooden shoes and when he was between 80 and 90 years he drove to the museum nearly every day from Utrecht, dressed up like a dutch peasant and made these wooden shoes.
He did not really need the money (he was quite well to do and he wasn’t even dutch) but he liked a chat with the tourists!

People and are in fact quite satisfied on how the Wine Monopoly works. The private institution BI (Norwegian school of Management) – does each year a study/reserch on how satisfied people are with different brand/companies – Vinmonopolet – was nr 4 i 2008.

You can see the scores her.

http://www.kundebarometer.com/index.php?content=nkbres2008&criteria=tilfredshet

You are wrong on home brewery (making alchohol) – those who do that, mostly look at it as an tradition. If there was free distribution of alchohole in Norway, this would surely have riced.

Home production of Beer and Wine is fully legal – we are not allowed to sell it freely.

There are more than 230 private importers in Norway – they also have to sell through the VM.
…

As I go to Amsterdam soon – I have done some research. I have heard about the shoes you use – is this the right type and where can I buy them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mwxE7Ky5hs

Interesting, I did not know about this. However, other scandinavian countries (Denmark excepted) do have such Vinbud systems too.
I have the impression that scandinavian gobernments want to regulate the lifes of their citizens and try to prevent alcoholism by restricting access to it.
Now,basically this is a good idea but it just does not work like this I think, since people will find other ways to get these products/servisces in a less legal manner.

Banning striptease is something similar.

Such interference into the lifes of citizens goeds even further than what the EU does :-)
BTW I found icelandic ‘black death’ really good stuff and Iceland could do well by exporting it to the EU.

The things that you does do when are young. :) But it was just plain mean to urinate on it. You mother would not be proud you.

But it just shows that without legalization consumers get ripped off by poor quality products and have no recourse.

As to Vínbúðin you and I sure many Icelanders herre themselves be surprised to know how it came to be.

The monopoly came because of pressure from Spain. In 1922 they threaten high tarriffs on import of Icelandic salt fish into Spain — big market — if Iceland did not permit Spain wines in.

So Icelandic answer was to have government agnency handle that. And the current system of Vínbúðin monopoly born.

I do have my doubt about this statistic as it probably only shows sale of alcohol in official shops.
For instance , it apparently shows that Luxemburgers are the biggest alcoholics in Europe. However, because of low taxes, alcohol is cheaper in Lux than in surrounding countries. As a result, germans , french and belgians who live in the border region, buy their alcohol in Lux (at the same time filling up their cars as fuel is cheaper in lux too). So it is mostly not consumed by luxemburgers.
Also the statistics from the czech republic are pushed up by german shoppers, just like the statistics for Belgium are pushed up by UK citizens who often only take the ferry to Belgium for alco-shopping.
In fact much of the alcohol-sale in countries bordering scandinavia (the baltic states, but also northern Germany-have you ever seen the amount of booze-shops between Flensburg and the danish border?) is acocunted for by scandinavian alcoholics.
I have seen this myself when I visited Estonia. During weekends Tallinn is full of scandinavians who only come here to get drunk and buy large amounts of booze befroe returning.

Please have a look at this site of the WHO with detailed analysis of the different countries.

http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/statusreportalcoholeuro/en/index.html

It mentions that HOMEMADE alcoholics are a very important element in scandinavian countries, while this is not shown in the official statistics (and much more dangerous than good quality booze, bought in an official shop). Homemade stuff is hardly consumed here since it is possible to buy decent booze at reasonable prices.

I absolutely do not believe that the most alcoholic country in the world (Mother Russia) is somewhere in the middle, according to this statistic. But offcourse here too homebrew (Samogon) is not accounted for.

Personally I think that a restrictive policy of the state towards its citizens regarding alcohol, drugs and sex will only lead to citizens seeking these things abroad in a much more extreme manner than they would do if it were allowed at home.

Scandinavians overhere usually immediately run into a bar, a sex shop or a coffee shop (I do have certain memories of swedish girls who came to my hometown when I studied myself which I will not write down here …)…and I am fine with that since they spend money which benefits our economy .

I do think a law that makes buying sex abroad illegal to norwegians is ridiculous. How is this law to be policed? Will the norwegian secret service keep an eye on the red light district in Amsterdam? Will they ask visitors of this district for their passports, will norwegians at Oslo airport be searched for condoms? just wondering.
In Holland we do have a law that makes pedophilia abroad punishable by law: some perverts who had sex with children in poor asian countries were sent to prison and that is a good thing. However, adults who choose to sell themselves make a deliberate choice and I have no problem with that.

There are quite a lot of dutch who emigrate to Norway and there are good reasons for that: the standard of living in Norway is higher and many people here are sick and tired of overpopulation and crime. There are underpopulated regions in Norway where there is a shortage of experts: teachers, nurses, physicians and they advertise here in Holland for such people.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iris-lee/elections-in-iceland-the_b_188517.html

http://www.helsedirektoratet.no/rusmidler/fakta_om_alkohol/alkoholforbruk_i_europa_5513

(it is Norwegian – but I think you understand)

The Wine monopoly is a good institution. The prices are ment for Norwegians. We havw a good democracy here – so it is up to us to decide what we want.

I will go to Amsterdam in the end of the month. As you said – the state know what is best for us – so from this year the goverment has decided the the Norwegians are not allowed tu buy sex anywhere – even not in the red light district :-) – You are allowed to sell sex in Norway, but you are not allowed to buy it. But we still “buy” people from Netherland – http://www.norsk.nl

Come on grow up, let it go with the CAPS, he likes or has to use CAPS you like male streepers -(“AH! And what about men striptese?”)It´s your choice and so is his hith the CAPS.