Dutch Ambassador And
NORML Respond To Washington Times
Coverage Of Drug Bizarro’s Anti-Dutch Propaganda
(Ed. note: The Washington Times has a very weak
web site that does not carry the whole paper. This is understandable. They have a lot to
hide. Their coverage of the Drug Bizarro’s Dutch fiasco was pure prohibitionist party
line. As the Ambassador’s letter indicates they even ignored the correct data that
their reporter received when he called the embassy. This left them open to embarrassment,
in that it would really be bad form in Washington not to print an ambassador’s
letter. They even printed one from NORML. Readers of the Washington Post and of the New
York Times have been given only sanitized reports on the trip that did not correct any of
the Czar's lies.
See
The New York Times
Covers Up for the Drug Bizarro And Gives No Hint Of Success of Dutch Policy
You will note that the numbers on Dutch homicides cited by NORML – and
Marijuananews.com -- are lower than those cited by the Dutch Ambassador. Both came from
official Dutch statistics. I have not yet found out the reason for this disparity, but one
would assume that the higher numbers are correct.
As the Ambassador says, "the homicide rate in the Netherlands was 1.8 per 100,000
(273 homicides in 1996), which is one-fifth that of the U.S. rate of 8.22 per
100,000." When the Drug Bizarro was claiming that the Dutch murder rate was twice
ours he blamed Dutch drugs policy. That would have been simplistic if it had been right.
Will no one ask him if DEAland drugs policies are to blame for our much higher murder
rate?)
See Drug
Bizarro In Sweden Digs Himself In Deeper With Specific Lies About the Dutch;
Says Their Murder Rate Is Twice DEAland’s, But It Is Just 20% Of Ours!
and Go Dutch! for more articles
July 20, 1998
From the Washington Times
letter@twtmail.com
http://www.washtimes.com/
DEFENDING THE NETHERLANDS’ DRUG-CONTROL POLICY
In a July 15 article, "McCaffrey takes his charge to officials in
Netherlands," you repeat statements and information about the Netherlands’ drug
policy made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. I am disturbed that you made no
attempt to verify this material after being confronted with concrete information to the
contrary.
When your reporter called this embassy to investigate the story,
he was given detailed information countering the charges about Dutch drug policy. He was
told clearly and plainly that the homicide rate in the Netherlands was 1.8 per 100,000
(273 homicides in 1996), which is one-fifth that of the U.S. rate of 8.22 per 100,000.
He also was told that the incidence of cannabis use in the Netherlands was 4.6 percent
of the total population vs. 6 percent in the United States and that the incidence of youth
drug use in the Netherlands was almost 50 percent less than in the United States in recent
years. In fact, U.S. government data show that in 1995, almost 50 percent of high school
seniors had tried an illegal substance, which is much higher than the 30.2 percent
attributed to the Netherlands.
We also explained our strong belief that most of the other claims made by Gen.
McCaffrey’s office regarding Dutch drug policy were based on an incorrect reading of
the data, or simply incorrect data, and our belief that a responsible examination of the
facts would put this odd, puzzling controversy to rest.
The Netherlands and the United States have, in some respects, different approaches to
domestic drug control policy. However, our goals in reducing the harmful costs to society
of illegal drug use are the same, and our two countries have a close, constructive,
cooperative relationship in this field.
Joris Vos Ambassador Royal Netherlands Embassy Washington
NORML Also Responds
July 20, 1998
To the Washington Times:
Statistics flaunted by drug czar Barry McCaffrey regarding alleged Dutch homicide and
marijuana-usage rates are purposely misleading and inaccurate. While it is unfortunate
that a high-ranking U.S. official would stoop to malign dutch drug policies, it is equally
disturbing that a major newspaper such as The Washington Times would repeat those
inaccuracies.
There were a total of 193 homicides in the Netherlands in 1995, according to the
Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics. This equates to a murder rate of approximately
1.3 per 100,000. This figure is significantly less than America’s 8.3 per 100,000 and
nowhere near the 17.58 per 100,000 claimed by Gen. McCaffrey.
According to the 1996 annual survey data compiled by the
University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future project, 45 percent of American high
school seniors admit they have tried marijuana - not 9.1 percent, as Gen. McCaffrey
claims. This percentage is far greater than the number of Dutch 12th graders
who admit to having tried marijuana. Gen. McCaffrey’s data misleads the public by
comparing the percentage of American teens who use marijuana monthly to the percentage of
Dutch teen-agers who have ever tried marijuana.
The Dutch overwhelmingly approve of their current marijuana policies. These policies
seek to normalize rather than dramatize marijuana use and eliminate marijuana users from
the hard-drug market. If Gen. McCaffrey believes that America’s
policy of arresting and jailing more than 12 million marijuana users since 1965 is more
effective than the Netherlands’s system, he should find no need to distort the facts
and lie to the American people.
Paul Armentano
Publications Director
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Washington
Supported