CABINET CAN NO LONGER BE SILENT ABOUT DRUG POLICY

An editorial article in the newspaper De Volkskrant last Saturday urges the Dutch government to break the silence about the drugs policy. Although it is understandable that the mayors of the border towns Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal want to close the coffee shops to stop the massive influx of drug tourists, the mayors should realise that this will not solve the problem. The mayor of Maastricht Gerd Leers is right that the closures will only move the problem to other Dutch towns. Besides this the business will be partly taken over by illegal dealers and drug runners.

According to the article it is too early to conclude that the Dutch drugs policy is a failure. But the contradictions in the policy make it difficult to keep the situation as it is. At the time the drugs policy was implemented to separate the soft- and hard drug markets. This part of the policy has worked out well. But it is difficult to defend that the authorities tolerate the sales of soft drugs via coffee shops, but at the same time millions are earned with the illegal supply of the coffee shops. Legalising the cultivation and supply of coffee shops would solve this problem, but this will need an international approach.

The repressive drug policies in other European states causes’ massive drug tourism in the Dutch border towns, which lead to a lot of annoyance. Since years the mayor of Maastricht Gerd Leers argued in favor of legal cannabis cultivation to take the wind out of the sails of organised crime. His Christian Democrat party member and minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin does not support this idea at all, and that is why the soft drugs summit, proposed by Leers is a very relevant plan. Especially to prevent that the soft drugs tourism annoyance moves to other cities.

The editorial article states that the Dutch government cannot stand aloof. But coalition parties PvdA (Social Democrats) and the CDA (Christian democrats) have a contradictory approach to the matter. The CDA is clearly in favor of a more strict soft drugs policy. A few years ago the PvdA was still in favor of legalising the cultivation of cannabis. Since the PvdA is a member of the coalition it seems they have left the idea.

The supporters of the legalisation of the cultivation of cannabis - to take it out of the hands of organised crime - still have a liable point, but this also counts for the counter-argument that this can only be organised internationally. Although it seems that other European states are a lot more tolerant towards soft drugs than they dare to admit, the chance of legalisation seems to be very small.

So it is understandable that some Dutch border towns do not want to become the victims of this stalemate. But for the opponents of the tolerant soft drugs policy it would be good to realise that closing all coffee shops would only replace one problem for the other.

SOFT DRUGS SUMMIT ANNOUNCED read more
FLEMISH MAYOR IN FAVOR OF COFFEE SHOP POLICY read more
DUTCH DRUG POLICY SHAKEN BY COFFEE SHOP CLOSURES read more
MAASTRICHT MAYOR WANTS 'COFFEESHOPS' IN GERMANY AND BELGIUM see more (youtube.com)

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November 3, 2008