|
You
can find the complete text on www.drugtext.org
("Drug reports")
Summary
of NDPF Report 'Drug Control Through Legalization'
The
war on drugs has failed in the USA as well as Singapore, where people
are hanged if they are caught with drugs. Drug prohibition is not
likely to be any more successful in the Netherlands - a country
with open borders and Rotterdam, the largest port in the world-
where the power of the police and courts is less centralized.
The four main arguments against drug prohibition are that it is:
- INEFFECTIVE: Ever more drugs are being confiscated,
but this has no effect on their price or availability: Prohibition
is a gold mine and a driving force behind crime, and stimulates
unsafe patterns of use.
- UNFAIR: drugs users are discriminated by prohibition
compared to drinkers, smokers, and gamblers.
- UNNECESSARY: drug use and abuse can be controlled
better by way of legal regulation.
- drug prohibition UNDERMINES: the judicial system
and democratic society.
The Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation has drawn up a plan to eliminate
the crime resulting from the ban on drugs and to control the drug
problem by way of legal regulation.
Cannabis
The Netherlands has more than twenty years of experience with the
semi -legal sale of soft drugs. It hasn't led to an intolerable
invasion of drug tourists or an increase in drug use compared to
neighbouring countries. Levels of problematic drug use are no higher
and in fact often lower than elsewhere. A National Drug Agency should
be established to regulate and monitor the production and sale through
approximately 1500 legal coffee shops, allowing everyone above the
age of 16 (or 18-preferably the same age requirement as for alcoholic
beverages) to purchase there. This will only lead to a slight price
reduction.
Other drugs
The Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation has opted for the distribution
of hard drugs via a comprehensive system for medical and non-medical
use. The National Drug Agency is to set up approximately 150 shops
countrywide for non-medical distribution. The staff will receive
a fixed income from the Agency, and the shops will be non-profit.
. There is to be a maximum amount of each drug that one customer
can buy within a certain time frame, e.g a week. Customers who want
to buy more than this amount will be referred to the health services.
These agencies can then examine their health status, the risk of
resale. make recommendations about safe (or safer) use and determine
a higher maximum dosage.
. Residents of the Netherlands can obtain a drug pass to enable
them to buy drugs up to the fixed maximum. The pass will be a non-transferable
chipcard that registers the drug use in accordance with regulations
on protecting privacy. The drug pass will serve to restrict the
inflow of drug tourists. Prices will go down to the real level,
and 10-20 Netherlands guilders (US$ 5.10) will set up addicts for
the day.
The medicalization alternative, entailing the strictly medical
prescription of hard drugs to registered addicts, bas also been
studied. This system would adhere to the prohibition of hard drugs.
The Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation rejects this option for the
following reasons.
1.
|
Physicians
primarily want to improve their patients' physical condition
and not cause any harm to their health. Prescribing hard drugs
will lead to a conflict, since they do not improve the patients'
health and might do harm, just like alcohol or cigarettes. |
2.
|
Most
physicians and pharmacists object to prescribing drugs for recreational
use. |
3.
|
The
physicians who are willing to cooperate are faced with conflicting
roles. They are asked to prescribe intoxicants or stimulants,
not medication, and run the risk of failing either as doctors
of as drug providers. |
4.
|
Physicians
are often unfamiliar with non-problematic drug use. Since their
knowledge is usually confined to long-term problematic users,
they are prone to draw erroneous conclusions about the dangers
of drug use (The Clinician's Illusion). |
5.
|
For
the reasons noted above, physicians are inclined to impose more
and more restrictions on the prescription of drugs. Prospective
users would need to either have or pretend to have some illness
in order to get drugs. And physicians would play a controlling
instead of a counselling role. They would view patients with
distrust, and regulations would be rigid and inadequate. All
these phenomena are already in evidence at many methadone programs. |
6.
|
There
would be two undesirable consequences: the physician-patient
relationship would be impaired and the illegal market would
continue to flourish if users were unable to get drugs from
their physicians. |
7.
|
The
medical prescription of hard drugs is only appropriate for problematic
users. For non-problematic users, medical prescription is unnecessary
and would only create problems for 'patients' and doctors alike. |
Effects
of complete legalizalion on drug consumption
A global finding in drug epidemiology is that official drug policies
do not exert much influence on the levels of consumption. Complete
legalization according to the proposed system should not be expected
to greatly influence levels of consumption. However, the health
of problematic users will no longer deteriorate, as under prohibition.
Young people who want to experiment with drugs will be stimulated
to learn to do so in a controlled way. Correct information will
be more accessible.
Effects of complete legalization on crime
- Addicts will no longer need to pay unreasonable prices for their
drugs.
- Prison cells now occupied by drug addicts and dealers (about 50%)
will become available.
- This will put an end to the present shortage of cells. As a result,
other types of crime will decrease by 10-20%.
- The crime-fighting capacity of the police and the courts will
double, resulting in a further reduction of crime.
- Total crime will decrease by 50 % !
Publications
'Drug Control through Legalization', the English translation of
the Dutch report 'Drugsbeheersing door legalisatie' (1994), was
published in 1996. The complete text can be found at the website:
www-drugtext.org., and obtained on paper from our organization.
In 1998 the Netherlands Drug Policy Foundation drew up 'Coffeeshops
uit de schaduw' (Coffee Shops Out in the Open), a report with a
proposal for regulating the 'backdoor problem' (coffee shops are
not allowed to buy cannabis from growers, but they may sell a maximum
of 5 grams to each customer).
National activities
- Reinforcing network of municipal authorities
- Garnering and producing material to provide information via various
channels including internet
- Promoting contact and collaboration with universities, government
offices, political parties, organizations of drug users and other
agencies active in the drug policy field
- Organizing meetings to provide information and influence drug
policy, e.g. by formulating practical proposals in conjunction with
others.
International
activities
- Maintaining contact with European Parliament members and making
efforts to set up a base in Brussels
- Building up an international network of organizations in the same
field
- Working towards global cooperation on the part of organizations
in favour of optimal decriminalization of drugs.
|
