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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Netherlands: Sale of cannabis on its way out? John Tyler Radio Netherlands Tuesday 02 Dec 2008 "Maybe it's better to close all these famous coffee shops over here", says MP Cisca Joldersma. She handles drug policy issues for the Christian Democrats, one of the parties in the governing coalition. Joldersma wants to bring an end to the policy of tolerance: "Especially the last few years we've seen a lot of problems regarding these coffee shops. There are a lot of drug tourists coming to The Netherlands just for the coffee shops There's also a lot of criminal activity at the back door of these coffee shops, and it's organized crime. It's not the soft world it was when we started 30 years ago. It's a really hard world." Firm against outside pressure nonetheless The Netherlands has maintained its policy of tolerating soft drugs through thick and thin, standing up to pressure from other EU countries. That pressure reached a climax in the 1990s, when Europe opened its internal borders. Even then, the Dutch government held firm. All over Holland people can buy small amounts of marijuana or hashish in coffee shops. But at the same time the production and hence supplying the coffee shops with the drugs remained illegal. Times have changed, says Christian Democrat Cisca Joldersma. Tom Decorte, professor of criminology at the University of Ghent, agrees to some extent with her: "The market has changed, because the Dutch government has refused to regulate the supply side of the coffee shops, and this has led to a change in the market. The cannabis market has become more criminal, more professionals are involved, and that affects the image of the Dutch coffee shop model abroad." Decorte says the solution to the organized crime is not a ban like the Christian parties in the Dutch government want. He says the Netherlands should go further and legalize the supply of cannabis. Opposite international trend? There is an international trend toward more liberal attitude, says Martin Jelsma, member of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs: "There are more and more countries introducing decriminalization of use, or possession for personal use, of cannabis. I see a discussion starting in several Latin American countries, to have a different policy with cannabis, in Brazil and Mexico, where there's a strong link with very violent criminal gangs involved in the cannabis trade. So on the ground, in several countries there is a trend toward decriminalization, more tolerance, and opposite the trend at this moment in the NL." So is the Netherlands now going to move to the rearguard of drugs policy after decades in the vanguard? Whatever is finally decided, it's certain that when some Dutch politicians say coffee shops should be closed and cannabis banned, it encourages anti-drugs campaigners in other countries to say - see tolerance just doesn't work. _________________ http://astore.amazon.co.uk/webbooks05 http://www.ccguide.org.uk/
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