This letter has also been sent to the Minister for Health as well as to the permanent parliamentary committees of both ministries.

STICHTING DRUGSBELEID
Website: www.drugsbeleid.nl
mr. R. Dufour, president
Groot Heiligland 67, 2011 EP, Haarlem
tel.+fax:+ 31 (0)23 - 531 0133
e-mail:R.Dufour@planet.nl

2 April 2003
to: The Minister of Justice, mr J.P.H. Donner, PO Box 20301, 2500 EH The Hague
re: drug policy

Dear Mr Donner,

The UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs will meet in Vienna later this month. At this meeting, the results of the international policy on drugs will be reviewed. As you are aware, these results are poor. Despite the world-wide ban on drugs, more drugs are used today than ever before. The prohibition causes addicts to live in degrading circumstances and, moreover, has proven to be a goldmine for the mafia and terror movements.

We therefore believe that the government should use the CND-meeting to initiate an international debate on the prohibition of drugs. Expectations are that several European and Latin-American countries and Canada will support such an initiative.

The 'Petition on Drugs' enclosed in this letter outlines our views and recommendations. The Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation obtained many signatures in support of its Open Letter of both welfare organizations and individuals, including:
- prof. mr. J.C.M. Leijten, former advocate general of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands
- Hedy d'Ancona, former Health Minister
- Reverend Hans Visser, Rotterdam
- prof. dr A. van Dantzig, psychiatrist
- prof. F. Bovenkerk
- mr. F. le Poole, senator and Vice-President Assen District Court
- prof. mr. E.Aardema, Vice-President Leeuwarden Court of Appeal
- mr. K.E.Mollema, acting President and coordinating Vice-President Leeuwarden Court of Appeal

We would appreciate it if you would bring forward the discussion on the UN conventions that impose the prohibition in Vienna.

Yours sincerely, on behalf of the Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation
mr. R. Dufour

PETITION ON DRUGS

More and more people are beginning to realize that our current drug laws - based on an international ban on drugs - are not working.

- Whilst the Opium Act aims to protect public health, the general drug prohibition is much too crude an instrument for this purpose, completely overshoots the mark.
- A negative side-effect of current drug laws is that they cause a gigantic amount of crime and much nuisance. A disproportionate amount of police and court time and manpower is taken up, as a result of which the police force and prosecution services do not get round to dealing with other urgent tasks.
- Finally, the international prohibition of drugs has disastrous effects on some of the production countries, e.g. Colombia.

There clearly is a need for more finely tuned legislation that will take the actual health risks of various drugs into account. Such legislation will be more conducive to public health, and cause significantly less crime and nuisance as well. This means dramatic changes have to be made to the Opium Act.

However, the Netherlands is not free to change its drug laws just like that. We have signed the international drug conventions. These conventions prohibit the possession, production and distribution of drugs and oblige signatories to maintain and enforce laws that are line with these conventions. As mentioned above, the Dutch Opium Act is also in line with these international conventions. As long as our country does not denounce the conventions or the contents of these conventions will not be changed - the latter being the preferable option - we will not be free to adopt laws that are at variance with the prohibition of drugs.
That is why the government should strive to reform the conventions in order to enable the introduction of better drug laws in the Netherlands.

In April 2003 a conference of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) will be held in Vienna. The CND is the central policy-making body within the UN that deals with drug-related matters, and the governing body of the UN Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).
The meeting, which is held at ministerial level, provides an excellent opportunity to start off the desired process of change.
This is why it is of great importance that a decision will be taken at this CND conference to formulate alternatives to the current general drug prohibition, towards regulation. The World Health Organization (WHO) will have to play an important advisory role in this process.

The undersigned, therefore, calls for the Dutch government to urge UN members to reconsider the current conventions.

EXPLANATORY NOTES

The situation in the Netherlands

There are about 3 million people in our country who have, at some point in their lives, taken drugs, half a million of whom still regularly take drugs.
Of these people, 85% per cent are recreational drug-users. Health risks of recreational drug-use are acceptable, and do not cause any nuisance to other people.
In 10% of the cases, drug-use is problematic, e.g. because these users are in some respects more vulnerable, such as young people, because the use has got out of hand, or because of the effects of a particular substance.
5% of users have a drug-dependency problem or an addiction. This is especially true for users of heroin and free-base cocaine. The problems that occur as a result of the addiction, in terms of health or nuisance caused to the community, can be largely attributed to the drug prohibition.

The health risks of most drugs that are used on a recreational basis are comparable to the risks of using tobacco or alcohol. That, in itself, makes the justification of the drug prohibition questionable.
Though drugs are officially proscribed, they are still widely available. The effect that the prohibition does have is that there is no control whatsoever on the distribution of drugs, and drugs can easily end up in the hands of young people.
The prohibition also causes the price of drugs to increase, with the possibility of hard-drug addicts being forced to resort to crime or street prostitution, which again would lead to all sorts of problems, for the community as well as for the drug user him or herself. The social isolation of addicts makes fighting their dependency on drugs more difficult, and contributes to the problem of relapse.

It is very well possible to establish a regulatory framework that will put an end to these problems. Such legislation would involve a regulation that much more takes into account the specific effects of the various drugs. The regulation of drugs will enable society to better control the use of drugs, and will create more possibilities for effective drugs education and prevention.

Although the present Dutch Opium Act complies with the provisions of the international drug conventions, our country already applies its own interpretation to a number of the matters set out in these provisions. For example, a distinction is made in our country between soft drugs (e.g. cannabis) and hard drugs (e.g. heroin and cocaine e.a.), because of the difference in health risks involved and in order to separate the two markets to some extent. The sale of cannabis through coffee shops is "tolerated", which means that people are not prosecuted for selling or buying cannabis through coffee shops. The authorities also apply a hands-off approach to the use of hard drugs, in order to be able to better tackle problematic use of and addiction to these drugs. Drugs education in the Netherlands is good. There are facilities for people with drug-dependency problems, such as the distribution of methadone, needle exchange programmes and injection rooms. Because of all these things there are fewer drug-related problems in the Netherlands than in other European countries and in the US.
The Netherlands has always performed a pioneering role with regard to issues around drugs.

International developments

In many countries the international drug conventions are now under debate.
A few recent examples.

In the UK, the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee held an inquiry into the government's drug policy and options for change. On 22 May the committee released its report. The conclusion of the report read as follows: "Our recommendation is that the Government initiates a discussion within the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) of alternative ways - including the possibility of legalisation and regulation- to tackle the global drugs dilemma".

In Canada, a Senate Committee issued a report in September 2002 following a two-year study, recommending that cannabis be legalised completely.

Mexico's president, Vicente Fox, has spoken in favour of the reform of international drug policies on numerous occasions.

On 18 December 2002, 108 Members of the European Parliament issued a statement urging national governments to introduce the legal regulation of drugs and to take that issue forward at the next CND conference. This statement was also signed by 15 Dutch MEPs.

Similar declarations of support have been obtained by organizations in various other European countries.
The moment for international action has come!