U.S., Europe blast world’s most liberal drug policies
(Marijuananews note: Are they really the world’s most liberal?)
See
New Swiss Commission Explores the Options on Cannabis.
Legalization Looks Possible,
But A Ban On High THC "Hemp" Is Considered

By Jonathan Miller Jonathan Miller is an investigative reporter for MSNBC.com
(Marijuananews note: It is hilarious that this is by someone calling himself an "investigative reporter." In fact, this is really wretched "journalism.")

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Sept. 27 1999

This is a city with a rich historical past, some of Europe’s finest museums and an open welcome to the world. But these features only partly explain Amsterdam’s high ranking as a tourist destination. For many, especially university students, Amsterdam has become a synonym for free wheeling drug use and a youthful rite of passage. But while pot smokers may love this city, pressure is building to call a halt to the party.

(Marijuananews note: Notice the standard prohibitionist equation: marijuana equals "drug use." Amsterdam has far more bars than coffee shops, but they don’t count.)

Sidebar:"It breaks down like this: it’s legal to buy it, it’s legal to own it and, if you’re the proprietor of a hash bar, it’s legal to sell it. It’s legal to carry it, which doesn’t really matter ‘cause — get a load of this — if the cops stop you, it’s illegal for them to search you. Searching you is a right that the cops in Amsterdam don’t have."
— Vincent (John Travolta), in "Pulp Fiction."
(Marijuananews note: Close, but it still technically illegal.)

Almost a quarter of a century after the police started turning a blind eye to people smoking marijuana and hashish in Amsterdam’s coffee shops, there is new and ferocious criticism of this city’s tolerant soft drugs policy.
(Marijuananews note: No, there really is not anything new about it. DEAland has been lying about the Dutch policies for most of the 90s. I first encountered it early in 1993, shortly after I became National Director of NORML.)

The critics say liberalization has turned Amsterdam into a center for hard drugs controlled by ruthless organized crime organizations. U.S. law enforcement officials say these gangs have established a narcotic smuggling network that reaches into the heartland of America.

Recently, ten plainclothes police officers raided the Stone’s coffee shop on the Warmoesstraat, main drag of Amsterdam’s red light and hash bar district. Patrons looked up from their hash pipes and rolling papers. The air was thick with pungent marijuana smoke: small plastic baggies of potent Nederweit dope were on the tables in front of some customers.
(Marijuananews note: A non-sequitor. Notice that nothing happened. This was not really a "raid.")

But the police made no arrests. This was simply a routine check to see that the coffee shop was obeying the rules — nobody under 18 allowed, no hard drugs and no more than 500 grams of marijuana and hashish (just more than 1 pound) in total on the premises.

The police were polite, and thorough. The customers were asked to identify themselves and then asked to leave. The police remained, and searched the premises thoroughly, paying particular attention to the basement and the toilets. After checking the place out for a half-hour, the officer in charge was satisfied. After the police left, the customers slowly drifted back; soon it was business as usual.

SHANGRI LA OR SODOM?

Amsterdam’s reputation as a Mecca for pot draws thousands of people every day to the city, where they stay in dozens of cheap hotels and youth hostels that cater specifically to drug tourists.
(Marijuananews note: Nonsense! They do not "cater specifically to drug tourists." They cater to a market of budget travelers, which obviously means young people, many of whom come to experience freedom.)

But there is trouble in this paradise of marijuana consumers. Although the Dutch insist officially there is no turning back from their policy of tolerating soft drugs, other European police forces blame the Dutch for creating an open city that has become the narcotics capital of Europe.

(Marijuananews note: This is simply reporting what some European police say as representing a consensus, which is not accurate.)
See
Austrian And Swiss Papers Look Favorably On Cannabis Reform and Dutch Policies

Packets of Cannabis seeds at the Interpolm Amsterdam, a marijuana grow shop that supplies everything necessary for growing marijuana including seeds, soil, lights, plants, and water pumps.

Under pressure to crack down, the government has already reduced the amount of marijuana or hashish an individual is permitted to possess from 30 grams to 5 grams.

(Marijuananews note: No, this is the limit on individual purchases in coffee shops. The Dutch police are not arresting people with ten grams of cannabis. However, this was done to restrict purchases at border towns, not in Amsterdam, where there has never been a problem.)

The authorities have also beefed up their organized crime strike force in an effort to crack down on gangs. More than 100 coffee shops have been closed for breaking the rules, but roughly 400 remain.

(Marijuananews note: There are more than one thousand coffee shops all over the Netherlands, not just in Amsterdam.)

In a ferocious attack this spring, the journal Foreign Affairs claimed Amsterdam is becoming to ecstasy what Colombia has become to cocaine.

See
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April's Reefer Madness Award Winner

A drug intelligence brief published this summer by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration claims that clandestine laboratories operating primarily in the Netherlands are responsible for the "vast majority" of ecstasy consumed in the United States.
(Marijuananews note: But is the DEA a credible source? A real "investigative reporter" might check out their record for accuracy about the contraband markets.)

Ecstasy, a synthetic, psychoactive stimulant with hallucinogenic properties, is increasingly popular among teen-agers and young professionals. Supplies originating in the Netherlands are reaching not only major cities but also into the American heartland. The DEA reports seizures of the drug from Oklahoma City to Beaumont, Texas, Fayetteville, Ark. and Montgomery, Ala.
(Marijuananews note: Yes, but there is no way to know that these supplies came from Holland.)

After a visit to Amsterdam, where he publicly chided the Dutch for their easygoing attitude to drugs, White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey pronounced the city an "unmitigated disaster."

A spokesman for McCaffrey was unapologetic in an interview with MSNBC.

"The Dutch may hate us for telling the truth but the fact is that their crime rate is going up and our crime rate is going down," he said.

(Marijuananews note: Actually, the Dutch were just surprised that the Czar would lie. It is unlikely that anyone  hates the Czar for telling the truth, because he does it so seldom.)

(Marijuananews note: That is close to a "correction" – but it still misses the story. Of course, saying that crime rates are "falling," implies that they were high in the first place.)
See
2 Items From Sweden:
25% Increase In Violent Crimes In Holland; French Cannabis Report Blamed  On "Drug Liberal."

Still, British customs officers endorse American accusations. They say Amsterdam is the hub for smuggling ecstasy, marijuana and cocaine throughout Western Europe and beyond. They say that much of the ecstasy and 80 per cent of the heroin in the Britain passes through the Netherlands.

See
Prohibitionist UK -- Not Holland -- Leads Europe In Illegal Drug Production.
But This Does Not Fit the Prohibitionist Party Line

French president Jacques Chirac has condemned Amsterdam as the "drug capital of Europe."
(Marijuananews note: So what? Chirac is a rabid prohibitionist, not an expert on "drugs policies.")
See
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But Recognizes "There is certainly no question of putting two million people in prison."
Guaranteeing A Black Market.

‘LESSER EVIL’?

Whether there is truly a link between the tolerance of soft drugs and Netherlands’ growing importance as a distribution center for hard drugs is a highly controversial question and both sides are able to deploy an array of statistics to support their case.

The Dutch themselves say that their policies are working. Lisette Taillia, a spokeswoman for the city health department, says that the number of registered hard drug addicts in the city has been steadily falling, along with HIV infection rates, as a result of an education and treatment-centered approach.

And the Dutch do not believe their approach is without problems, only that it is preferable to the alternative.

"In preventing problems among young people, a lesser evil is always better than a greater one," said Dr. Janhuib Blans, who directs a drug education program financed by both the city and private sources.

The split of the market between hard and soft drugs has been highly effective, Blans said, with heroin addiction rates among the young much lower than in other European cities.

"The average age of heroin addicts in Amsterdam is 40 and is rising by 11 months every year. There is almost no market for heroin in the Netherlands. That shows that very few young people are becoming addicted. By contrast, the average age of users in many other European cities such as Lille in France is 25 and the average age is remaining steady, indicating that more young people are becoming addicted."

"We are not saying that what is right for us is right for everybody else," Blans said. "A solution that is good for us might not be good for everybody."

Blans dismissed any connection between Netherlands’ tolerance of soft drugs and its importance as a distribution center for hard drugs.

"You have to remember that Rotterdam is the most important port in Europe," he said. "It has always been at the center of the distribution of everything," he said.

TEST CASE OR PARIAH?

Advocates of marijuana liberalization in the United States and Britain insist Holland is an example of a more rational approach to the drug problem. They have reacted angrily to recent attacks on the Dutch.

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws in Washington, D.C., said that statistics cited by McCaffrey "are purposely misleading and inaccurate." He noted that the murder rate in the United States is more than four times higher than it is in the Netherlands.

"The Dutch overwhelmingly approve of their current marijuana policies," St. Pierre said.

So far, the Dutch themselves have resisted the pressure to crack down. In the streets of Amsterdam, police, social workers and ordinary citizens say there can be no turning back.

"We are not saying there are no problems," said Superintendent Klaas Wilting of the Amsterdam police. "We are saying that the alternative is really unthinkable."

"The situation in Amsterdam is better than in other big cities in Europe," he says. "In terms of both organized crime and petty crime we have maybe less. Amsterdam is a safe city. The situation with hard drugs is that they are totally forbidden. When we do have addicts we regard it as a matter for the health department."

Privately, some street cops are less sanguine than their official spokesmen and some admit frankly that the hard drug situation is becoming harder to control.

Wilting says tolerance does not mean the police are indifferent. In the red light district, where drug coffee shops and bars share a neighborhood with window prostitutes and live sex show theatres, 350 officers maintain a high profile. They patrol on bicycles, scooters, on foot and on horseback and even occasionally on skates. But these police hardly resemble the tactical squads that operate in other European and American cities and they are often accompanied on the beat by health and social workers.

"We do not have any problems with drug tourism," Wilting added. Indeed, the city seems actively to promote it. There are links from the city of Amsterdam’s official web site (www.amsterdam.nl) to a number of specific guides to coffee shops, including the comprehensive guide at www.amsterdamhotspots.nl.

Privately, though, some street cops are less sanguine than their official spokesmen and some admit frankly that the hard drug situation is becoming harder to control. This reporter was offered cocaine repeatedly on a walk through the red light district — despite a heavy police presence.

The fact that they are offering "hash" indicates that their target market is the really, really dumb, because you would have to be an idiot to buy hash, or anything else, but especially hash, on the streets of Amsterdam. In any case, these are the symptoms of prohibition, not of freedom.)

And while Amsterdam’s rate of street crime is actually quite low compared to the United States and many other European cities, gangs are becoming more powerful behind the scenes.

One undercover officer told MSNBC that there are now at least 10 major Dutch criminal gangs involved in manufacturing and distributing drugs, with Schipol international airport in Amsterdam and the giant Europort in Rotterdam at the center of pan-European and global distribution networks.

"The heroin — maybe there’s not so much. It’s mainly ecstasy we find — and cocaine, cocaine, cocaine," the officer said.

(Marijuananews note: That is very interesting, but the fact is that Italy is second to Holland in cocaine seizures, but it has no coffee shops. In 1994 the Dutch seized 8,200 kilos of cocaine, 28.3% of the total seized in the EU.  Italy seized 6,633 kilos with 22.9% of the total. He overlooks the fact that The Netherlands escaped the crack cocaine epidemic, and it does not appear to have a major cocaine problem.)

In a chilling echo of the situation in Colombia, the gangs are becoming heavily armed. Said the officer: "When we raid them we find lots of guns, Glock handguns and AK47 assault rifles. These are tough guys."
(Marijuananews note: That is idiotic. The comparison with Columbia is truly absurd. It sounds rather more "like a chilling echo of the situation in DEAland." Of course, these are the symptoms of prohibition, not of freedom. In fact, most of the violence in Holland -- very limited by DEAland standards -- is prohibition related, except for the usual alcohol related problems.)

LAS VEGAS OF THE MIND

So far, none of this has dampened the party. At Stone’s coffee shop, which has two branches on the Warmoesstraat and even has its own website, Louis, the young bartender, offers a menu of marijuana and hashish products starting at about $10 for a small bag of potent, locally-grown cannabis resin. A supply of rolling papers is available free at the counter. Louis says he grows much of the stuff himself in his basement. "Most of my customers are foreigners," he says.
(Marijuananews note: Surprise! Surprise! This is in the tourist area. Most of the Dutch have no reason to go there. They have coffee shops all around the city and in the suburbs.)

In the shop, a group of visiting Americans is deep in conversation. One is a school teacher from the South, another a student at a college in New England, two more are juniors on a summer backpacking trip to Europe. To judge by the accents in Stones and on the streets, half of all visitors are American. But there are plenty of French, German and English visitors, too.

"Look, this is a bit like Las Vegas," says one of the Americans. "The truth is that the first day you get here it is amazing and by the end of the second day you can’t wait to get out. But it’s got to be more sensible than locking thousands of people in jail for smoking a few joints."

(Marijuananews note: An interesting twist. First, if someone is bothered by the Dutch marijuana policies, the coffee shops are so unobtrusive that there would be no point in leaving. On the other hand, the "tourist" is smarter than our Drug Czar. Faint praise.)

Washington is not convinced. The debate over marijuana has increasingly become a dialogue of the deaf, with President Bill Clinton, who has admitted smoking pot but not inhaling, ordering stepped-up efforts against marijuana, even as advocates of liberalization continue to insist that the Dutch have found the way forward. For the moment, despite the pressure being put on the Dutch by their allies, there seems small chance of any real change to the tolerant approach that has made the city a toker’s paradise.