The Netherlands: Wire: Dutch Have Fewer Drug Users than Thought



Pubdate: 6 Jan 1998 



Source: Reuters 	



ubject: DUTCH HAVE FEWER DRUG USERS THAN THOUGHT	



AMSTERDAM, Jan 6 (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. 	



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) availibility 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 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