I have checked the Yahoo! News index and the major papers. Not even Mapinc’s indefatigable Newshawks have  submitted a single instance of a DEAland paper carrying the story.)

January 6, 1999

From Reuters

DUTCH HAVE FEWER DRUG USERS THAN THOUGHT - STUDY

AMSTERDAM, (Reuters) - The Netherlands has significantly fewer cannabis users than its reputation as a soft drugs haven might suggest, according to a study released on Wednesday.
(Marijuananews note: The report also shows that hard drug use is even further below DEAland levels, but I suppose that isn’t news.)

The study, financed by the health ministry and conducted by Amsterdam University and the Central Bureau of Statistics, is the first to document national drugs use.

It found 15.6 percent of Dutch people aged 12 and over had used or tried cannabis, versus a U.S. figure of 32.9 percent.

The Dutch study, published on Tuesday and which spanned 1997 and early 1998, determined 2.5 percent of those aged 12 and over had used cannabis within the last month.

"(This) amounts to some 323,000 people, and is thus significantly lower than the estimate of 675,000 used by the (Dutch) government," the study said.

In contrast, U.S. National Household Survey data for 1997 compiled by the Washington-based Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) determined 5.1 percent of Americans were recent cannabis users.

"The figures show that a repressive drugs policy, as implemented in the U.S., does not necessarily reduce drugs use," the Dutch study said. "(Ease of) availability is not a determining factor for the use of drugs in a country."

The findings run counter to remarks made by U.S. drugs policy adviser General Barry McCaffrey, who last summer sparked a diplomatic spat when he said Dutch leniency on soft drugs use had led to an explosion in the jail population
(Marijuananews note: Incarceration rate as a percentage of population (1997):
73 per 100,000 in the Netherlands; 645 per 100,000 in the U.S.
(Sources: Netherlands Ministry of Justice; White House Office of National Drug Control Strategy)
and a sharp rise in the number of users.

By contrast the United States’ hard line on drugs had cut abuse rates in America by 50 percent, McCaffrey said.

Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited.

From The Tages Anzeiger
Switzerland
http://www.tages-anzeiger.ch
January, 1999

(Courtesy Mapinc Newshawk Harald Lerch and translator Pat Dolan)

Only a few ‘Tokers’

Free access to drugs has no influence on the rate of consumption. This is shown clearly by a new Netherlands study.

Amsterdam. - A newly published study from the Netherlands shows only half as many hashish users as in the USA.
(Marijuananews note: In Europe the term hashish is sometimes mistakenly used for all cannabis.)

15.6% of those over age twelve had tried marihuana compared with 32.9% in the USA. The 1997-98 study was contracted by the health ministry and carried out by the University of Amsterdam and the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The study revealed that 2.5% of the Dutch over 12 population had tried marihuana as against 5.1% in the USA. The Dutch figures are less than 50% of the numbers previously thought to be involved.

The study showed further that the repressive drug policies of the USA cannot be said to bring about a reduction in consumption. The availability of drugs cannot, therefore, be said to play a decisive role in increased consumption.

American objections weakened

The study contradicts USA ‘drug czar’ Barry McCaffrey’s pronouncements which put a strain on USA-Netherlands relations recently. McCaffrey said last summer that the Netherlands drug policies had led to an explosion in the number of prisoners in Dutch jails and a considerable increase in the number of drug abusers. Against that, he said, the number of abusers in the USA could be halved by the tough law enforcement approach.

The Netherlands have persisted with their drug policy despite friction with neighboring EU counties who hold it to be too liberal. France adopted a policy of blocking or delaying the dismantling of border controls of goods and persons.

Actually, the main point of the Dutch policy is to protect its young people by drawing a clear line of distinction between marihuana (a soft drug) and heroin and cocaine (hard drugs). Young people who wish to experiment can do so without being forced to hob-nob with criminal elements and run the risk of being criminalised themselves. Both the USA and the Netherlands have the same goal: to reduce consumption. The Netherlands has found a way to do this with less harm to their young people and to society as a whole.
See
Dutch Drugs Policies Illustrated By Two Stories About Coffee Shops
And The New "Smart Shops" Phenomenon
and
Drug Czar Lies Again About the Dutch, Who Respond With The Facts;
Czar’s Aid Says, "forces at work to legalize drugs are trying to bring
these wonderfully allied governments into conflict."
and links

Dutch Marijuana Use Half That Of America, Study Reveals

January 7, 1999, Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Americans consume marijuana at rates more than double those of their Dutch counterparts, according to a study published Tuesday by the Center for Drug Research (CEDRO) of the University of Amsterdam.

"These findings illustrate that criminalizing marijuana does little, if anything, to discourage use," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director of The NORML Foundation. He noted that Dutch law allows citizens over 18 to buy and consume marijuana in government-regulated coffeeshops.

The study found that 15.6 percent of Dutch persons aged 12 and over had tried marijuana. Of these, 4.5 percent reported using marijuana in the past year, and 2.5 percent said they used the drug during the past month. By contrast, 32.9 percent of Americans admit trying marijuana, and nine percent report using the drug in the past year. Slightly more than five percent of Americans say they use the drug monthly.

The study’s authors concluded that "a repressive [marijuana] policy as in the U.S. does not necessarily result in less drug use. The availability of drugs is no determining factor for levels of drug use in a country."

The study, financed by the health ministry and conducted by Amsterdam University and the Central Bureau of Statistics, is the first to document national marijuana use rates.

Data previously compiled by the Dutch National Institute of Health and Addiction (NIHA) determined that Dutch adolescents use marijuana at significantly lower rates than Americans. The agency reported that 21 percent of Dutch adolescents admit trying the drug compared to 45 percent of American high school seniors.