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There’s something rotten in the state of Holland Clifford C. Cremer Canna Zine Wednesday 18 Jun 2008 The Dutch coffeeshop scene and the tolerant Dutch policies regarding soft drugs are under direct attack from these religious forces. They go so far as to totally disregard scientific reports which state clearly and unequivocally that the legal distinction between soft drugs (marihuana) and hard drugs (cocaine, heroin etc) has had its desired effect, in that recreational marihuana-users in Holland do not come into contact with criminal elements for their supply. Because of this they are under less risk of coming into contact with harder drugs. IN Holland the clarity and purity of the cannabis sold is never in doubt. Quality control is carried out by the coffee-shop owners. Which ensures coffee-shop customers are not forced to consume "adulterated" cannabis. Thats real harm reduction. Because of the success of this 30-year long policy, the Netherlands has fewer drugs-related crimes than neighbouring countries like Germany, Belgium, the UK and France. It also has fewer heroin addicts (percentage-wise) and lower rates of alcoholism. In Holland an even smaller percentage of the population are marihuana users than in those countries were all is forbidden and banned. The religious zealots in the Dutch government however choose to disregard these facts and go full-speed ahead with their anti-cannabis campaign, which turns more and more into an American-style War on Drugs. Their actions are not driven by issues of public health, but by religious moralising. That’s what you get when religion takes hold in politics: rational thinking makes way for superstition, science makes way for old dogmas, and public health issues are of secondary importance to moralist sensitivities. In the past eight years 40% of all coffeeshops in the Netherlands have been closed down. In Amsterdam alone, 400 coffeeshops have been put out of business, mostly on spurious grounds. A ‘dying out’ policy towards coffee shops is in place; no new licenses are allowed and old ones which are closed down can not open again or sell their permits to others. Although the Dutch government (still) condones sales of soft drugs in coffeeshops, they are working hard to destroy each and every supply-line to those very same shops, who are allowed to sell the merchandise, but who are not allowed to buy if from anyone. Now the zealots have taken their war one step further. Grow shops will soon be banned, and the Highlife Fair most probably saw it’s last edition in the Netherlands in 2007. Slowly but surely the zealots are choking a daring and successful policy which was always right. But the pimps take what they think is still their rightful share: a recent investigation by a Dutch TV show showed that Dutch coffeeshops cough up more than 400 million euros per year in tax revenue. Surely here the Christian morals can be set-aside for a while, after all a bit of ‘drugs’ money surely doesn’t stink, as we say in Holland. In the meantime, in Amsterdam the socialist mayor Job Cohen (who was never voted into office by anyone) has declared war on the world famous Red Light District. Cohen is a socialist moralist not unlike his Christian counterparts in the national government. They have taken it upon themselves to ‘cleanse’ the image of Holland. The freedom-loving, free-thinking, tolerant and liberal ways have to make way for a repressive climate USA-style driven by religious, outdated socialist and irrational beliefs. Red Light District - A Cultural Capitol of Europe? Cohen has already said he will not stop at the red-light windows: he also wants to close down as many coffeeshops as possible in the RLD and after that he will go after ‘cheap’ eateries like shoarma shops. These, Cohen says, are ‘low class’ establishments that need to be removed from the RLD. Economists call Cohen’s crusade ‘economic self-mutilation’. After all, 90% of visitors to Amsterdam come for the coffeeshops and the RLD. But that doesn’t stop the true moralist of course. Cohen has managed so far to close down more than 30% of the windows in the RLD, including the famous Oudekerksplein, a place where 500 years ago there was already African prostitution going on, making it a cultural landmark in the RLD. The vacated RLD windows by the way will now make place for expensive apartments for yuppies to live in. On British TV, Cohen bluntly said one of his goals was also to get rid of ‘drunken Brit tourists’ in the RLD. I hereby apologise to all our British friends for these stupid remarks by this out-of-his-mind mayor. The RLD of Amsterdam has a reputation that goes back more than 800 years. It will survive the madness of these modern-day moral crusaders, and it will survive the actions of the madman Cohen. Of that I’m sure. So please keep visiting Amsterdam if you can, skin up in one of our coffeeshops, enjoy some magic mushrooms while they’re still for sale, visit a prostitute or two of your liking and get wasted (not in that particular order, although it would be some memorable experience). Why? Because you can! And let nobody tell you otherwise. By Clifford C. Cremer Editor - Soft Secrets Magazine http://pr.cannazine.co.uk/content/view/415/27/
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