TRIAL BY JURY- mock lawsuit brought by NDPF against the State of The Netherlands, titled “Drugs- Maffia or Minister” .

Saturday the 9th of April 2005, the venerable “Senate’s Room” of Utrecht University offered the spectacle of an unusual happening. An enacted Jury-trial about drugpolicy took place, organised by the NDPF. The trial took all day. An summary of 1,5 hours was broadcast on national tv at prime time on the following Sunday-evening, The dvd of the broadcast is available at the website of the broadcasting corporation VPRO: http://www.vpro.nl/programma/tegenlicht/

The project took quite a preparation. It started with an article of Raimond Dufour, chairman of NDPF, in the foremost Dutch juridical journal. The article described the disastrous consequences of the present-day drugs prohibition, gave an outline of the solution by way of a system of regulation of all drugs, and invited Dutch lawyers to “sue” the Dutch State.
A group of prominent lawyers was then formed. We first debated whether the trial should be a real one, focussing on damages suffered by various groups, like house-owners whose house declined in value by its surrounding drugs-scene, or drug-users who suffered extra health-risks because the State withheld normal consumer-protection. We decided however that such a law suit would strand in court on the argument that this was a political matter. We therefore decided to hold a general debate in the form of a mock trial by jury. In The Netherlands jury-trials do not exist. Its form would however be attractive for the purpose of generating public interest.
Next step was to find a party to defend the State. We asked the political parties most supportive of the prohibition to nominate lawyers and other experts.After long prodding they suggested some names; we decided against these because we found them inadequate. It took us quite some trouble but in the end we managed to find the dean of Amsterdam lawyers and two other experts willing to act as our adversaries.
Both sides presented each a team of three “lawyers”, amond them one real lawyer and two other experts. A former president of the Amsterdam High Court of Justice would preside the trial.
Then the jury had to be chosen. In the meantime the public broadcasting company VPRO had consented to a tv-registration. Together with them we composed a jury consisting of well-known public figures: lawyers, doctors, a writer, a poet, journalists, a sportsfigure.

In the meantime we had written the summons, culminating in the demand that the State be ordered to withdraw its prohibition of the production and the sale of drugs, and replace it by a system of state-controlled regulation.
At the trial both parties could show a short movie, produced by the VPRO at the request of each party. And each party was allowed to present 5 experts to give evidence and be cross-examined.

The trial started at 10 o-clock in the morning and lasted till halfpast four. Then the jury retired. After long and heated deliberations its verdict came: 6-6 ! From our point of view this result was perfect: this way all tv-viewers could figure themselves represented in the jury.

Drugs as a topic turn up regularly in the media, but almost always in the form of incidents. Rarely the fundamental question is debated: does the current prohibition offer any solution, or would regulation be a better alternative. In the rare instance of such a political debate it is dominated by the powerplay: "who says what" tends to be much more important than: which arguments are valid and which not.
During our “trial" both sides of the fundamental issue were debated during a full day ‘in court’ , presided by a professional judge and in front of a neutral jury. Its result in moving public opinion will be longterm rather than immediate. The broadcast was widely viewed. Its spectators were confronted with as thorough an exchange of views as rarely ever witnessed in public media. This will no doubt influence public opinion on drugpolicy: a subject that is much more far-reaching than most people realise, and could,at the same time so well be solved !

June 3d, 2005 – Raimond Dufour

Website VPRO: http://www.vpro.nl/programma/tegenlicht/