With the beginning of the Hippie movement in the middle of the sixties, the mobility of young people who were looking for new ways of living and also experimented with drugs, intensified.
This fact made new demands upon society, the state, the police and legislation within the distinct states through which mobility grew.
Amsterdam developed itself into a Mecca for young people and became a refuge for German drug-users; in the beginning balance was there because of push - and pull - factors.
Attracted by the liberal climate of the city and the conditions described up here, most of these youngsters also were pushed out of their country: family- and personal problems, often in relation to addiction, debts and most of all legal prosecution accounted for their emigration.
In the beginning of the eighties the estimation was that 2000-3000 Germans stayed continuously in Amsterdam, very soon resulting in opposition by the population and politicians.
It never came to a melting with the population of native users either: distinct social status, often a different culture in using drugs (for instance a higher percentage of intravenous use by Germans) and in all cases to acceptance as far as existing next to each other was concerned. Germany rejected it''s responsibility in this exported problem clearly. On the contrary, it wanted The Netherlands to tighten up drug policy in order to stop the stream, comparable with the present attitude of France on this topic.