May 19, 1999

It has a number of gems in addition to the anti-Dutch propaganda.

For some reason the Czar felt it necessary to warn the Subcommitee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities that "the majority of the drug information posted on the Internet, which our children have ready access to, is legitimately classified as ‘pro-drug.’ This information is designed to normalize or glamorize drug use in the eyes of young people; encourage young people to experiment with drugs; and/or persuade young people to campaign for the legalization of drugs." (page 7)

Notice the segue from "encourage use" to "persuade young people to campaign for the legalization of drugs."

Remember the topic is "The Department of Defense’s Role In U.S. Drug Control Policy." Is he planning on nuking NORML? If not, then his comments would appear to be as off target as the Chinese embassy.

In the section on marijuana – page 16 – he says, "The 1997 National House hold survey estimated that 5.1 percent of Americans age twelve and older, were current marijuana users. Unlike other drugs, such as cocaine, there is no precise system in place to gauge the availability of marijuana in he United States. However, surveys such as the ONDCP’s Pulse Check routinely find the drug to be widely available. Marijuana used in the United States is widely grown domestically, or originates from Mexico and increasingly from Canada.

We are similarly concerned about the importation of high THC marijuana from Canada,
See
Run For Your Lives! "US Says Drugs, Terror Pouring In From Canada"!
Or, The Problems Of Living Next To A Superpower Run By Narcs.

and high THC seeds from the Netherlands."

Here he begins the next paragraph with lies from the Foreign Affairs article without identifying it as the source:

"The Dutch drug, Nederwiet, has THC content as high as 35 percent – as much as ten times the THC of average cannabis."

Notice that he admits that the average THC level is around 3.5%! Oops!
See
Marijuana Prohibition And Potency, Price, And Safety -- 
"Is Marijuana Stronger Than It Was Back In the '60s, When Everyone Thought It Was Harmless?"
Analysis By Richard Cowan

"High THC marijuana increases the physical dependence of the regular marijuana user, and creates withdrawal symptoms similar to those seen with other drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, that are typically considered addictive."

The preceding gives the impression that it is based on DEAland data, but it is really just a hyping of some already hyped quotes from Foreign Affairs in which two UK "experts" are quoted as saying, "cannabis, in this new, more potent form, is not the benign product advocates would have us believe. It may not be a hard drug, but ‘soft’ this new stuff most certainly is not. We now see a tendency toward a form of dependency among those who use it regularly." And -- "For the first time I am beginning to see something that resembles the withdrawal symptoms produced by hard drugs in heavy cannabis users."

There are two points here.

First, the Czar should use primary data, not an article by a non-expert in a non-peer-reviewed journal from an unidentified source. After all, if he does not have the best data, then why not, and who would?

Second, this really does not have anything to do with DEAland, except to claim that these super high THC Dutch seeds are a major factor in growing domestic marijuana. Of course, the fact that Dutch marijuana averages only around 8 percent THC would get in the way of this "threat."

See
The Prohibitionists In Stockholm Reveal The Shocking Truth
About The Potency Of Dutch Marijuana

Now he identifies his source, after having made the "threat" appear to be from a separate source:

"This month’s Foreign Affairs noted that the Nederwiet problem is increasingly being exported:

"[T]he annual Nederwiet harvest is a staggering 100 tons a year, almost all grown illegally. And it does not stay in the Netherlands. Perhaps as much as 65 tons of pot is exported—equally illegally—to Holland’s neighbors.

Holland now rivals Morocco as the principal source of European marijuana. By the Dutch Ministry of Justice’s own estimates, the Nederwiet industry employs 20,000 people. The overall commercial value of the industry, including not only the growth and sale of the plant itself but the export of high-potency Nederwiet seeds to the rest of Europe and the United States, is 20 billion Dutch guilders, or about $10 billion—virtually all of it illegal and almost none of it subject to any form of Dutch taxation. The illegal export of cannabis today brings in far more money than that other traditional Dutch crop, tulips."

Of course, this Dutch marijuana just replaced hashish from North Africa and the Mid-East, and is a safer form for most users.

Outrageously, he says "We thank the Dutch for their efforts to address this growing threat" from global drug trafficking. But on pages 21 and 22, the Netherlands is listed at the beginning of a section called "Other Areas of Emerging Concern" along with North Korea and Cuba!!

The Czar says, "The men and women of Dutch law enforcement work under difficult restraints to protect their citizens from the evil of drugs. (For example, while small-scale sales of marijuana through so-called coffee shops – which sell little or no coffee – have been decriminalized, the production of marijuana to supply the coffee shops remains, criminal, which causes a ready market for organized crime.)"

Never mind that the coffee shops really do sell lots of coffee. You can take your own weed, or even tobacco and sit down and order a coffee, and they will be happy to have your business.
See
Dutch Drugs Policies Illustrated By Two Stories About Coffee Shops
And The New "Smart Shops" Phenomenon

And never mind that the Dutch police very much believe that separating marijuana from the hard drugs is the basis of their policies.
See
"Here, if you want cannabis you go to a coffee shop.
In other countries if you want it you have to go to a man who might try to sell you heroin or cocaine as well."

And never mind the fact that the illegality of growing is a function of marijuana prohibition and has nothing to do with the ability of the Dutch police to "protect their citizens from the evil of drugs."

The Foreign Affairs article that he is citing just above makes very clear that supplying the coffee shops is a cottage industry, employing thousands of people. In fact, there is no evidence that "organized crime" is heavily involved in Dutch marijuana growing. On the other hand, hash smuggling from North Africa and the Mid-East has always involved "organized crime" because of the greater need for both capital and bribery.

The Czar’s testimony gives a good insight into how the prohibitionist propaganda machine works. A third rate article in a major publication is used as a source to lend credibility to statements which the Czar should know to be false. Even he misrepresents the actual content of the article! He lies about the lies.

One thing should be clear to our Dutch friends. Appeasing these liars is pointless.

One thing should be clear to the editors of Foreign Affairs. They are being used to undermine American interests.

One thing should be clear to Americans, and to our Canadian neighbors. The prohibitionists know that they are losing, but while the Drug Czar claims, "We are not fighting a war against drugs" (page 2), he is actually trying to further involve the military in war on freedom. He is even lying to the military about the content of anti-prohibitionist web sites.