Welcome from Portsmouth, in what part of the country are you?
I remember Amsterdam particularly in the 60's, I was there so often. I worked in Maidstone Kent and 4 of us used to drive hell for leather in a Renault Dauphine to try to cram 2 nights stay in. I remember free beer (2hrs drinking) at the Amstell Brewery in the morning, the Heineken Brewery (2hrs drinking) in the afternoon and more than likely the Paradisio night club in the evening. In between these places we would 'hang out' in Dam Square with hundreds and hundreds of other young people from everywhere, then we had to rush back to the UK to start work at 7.00 am the next morning. I often wonder how I survived that period of my life, we lived a non-stop lifestyle!
I remember so clearly how we thought the good times would never end, but of course they did!
I always avoided the drugs of the era, I worked in the NHS Psychiatric service and I'd already seen too much drug abuse, (especially the side effects, spongy gums, rotting teeth, epilepsy, personal madness and so on) and this was both illegal and the prescribed types.
This was also the time of the Vietnam War so the city was overun by shell shocked USA solders as well. And of course protesting about that war was a way of life.