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Belgium: OPED: More flexible drugs legislation mustn't become an advert for drug
Bart Dobbelaere De Standaard (Belgium)
Friday 19 Jan 2001 More flexible drugs legislation mustn't become an advert for drug use. From our Editor Bart Dobbelaere 19/01/2001 BRUSSEL The Minister for Public Health Magda Aelvoet began her press conference on the "drugs compromise" yesterday with the words "the government has no intention of promoting drug use". That was precisely the balance the cabinet had struggled to achieve: to make drugs legislation more flexible without at the same time providing advertising for cannabis use. "The drug-free society doesn't exist", acknowledged Aelvoet, "and it is senseless and even counterproductive to try to create one. You have to try to control the risks. You do that using the old folk wisdom that says prevention is better than cure, and cure is better than punishment". Punishment for cannabis use, which is largely accepted by society, will disappear completely, except where there is excessive nuisance or problematic use. At the same time, the prohibition on dealing in (soft) drugs remains in place. A Royal Decree will determine what constitutes excessive nuisance, and there will continue to be room for interpretation by the police services. Can you smoke on the street? And how many of you can do that at a time? And how much are you allowed to enjoy it? In any rate, it isn't set down how many grams of cannabis are acceptable. There was no cabinet consensus on that. According to Aelvoet, the government was above all concerned that that would send the wrong signal. Saying explicitly how many grams you were allowed to have might encourage some people to use more. "The police know from experience how many grams should have them raising their eyebrows" suggests Aelvoet. Besides, there are different types of cannabis, and you would have to set a weight limit for each type. There isn't an age limit either. The criminal law is only applicable to persons over 18. In the case of alcohol this problem is side-stepped by making it illegal to sell alcohol to minors. That can't be done with soft drugs, since their sale is itself illegal in this country. That is one notable gap in the drugs compromise. You can use drugs, but where the smoker gets their stuff from is an unknown. The Dutch coffee shops are going to do well out of it. There was no majority in the government for Belgian coffee shops. The government's message is clear here too: "You can have your cannabis, but we aren't going to help you find it". Hard drugs remain explicitly prohibited, and a police report will inevitably follow, but here too the rule is that cure is better than punishment. Users will invariably be directed towards the help services, and a prison sentence awaits them only if they obstinately refuse help. But it's already clear that nobody goes to prison solely because of their use of drugs. Aelvoet stated repeatedly at her press conference that her amendment was not confined to the cannabis compromise. "That is only point three of chapter five. This amendment will mean that a coordinated drugs policy is at last achievable in our country, for hard and soft drugs, tobacco and alcohol. There will be a drugs unit who will ensure the coordination of the policy of all the departments concerned. The unit will also evaluate all the available prevention initiatives. We have also made half a billion Francs available for help services. The Crisis Reception Service for example will get more beds, since the police services currently sometimes don't know what to do with a drug addict in need. We have also started up an "early warning system". Where the police or the help services become aware of dangerous drugs in circulation, such as happened recently with "elephant ecstasy", that will be reported immediately. Meanwhile the Ministry of Justice was looking rather wearily at Aelvoet's tactics. "We had agreed in the cabinet that we wouldn't reveal all this until Friday" said Mr Verwilghen". To which Aelvot's reply was that since the compromise was already being leaked, it would be better if it was leaked accurately. In his short statement following the cabinet meeting, Premier Verhofstadt put most emphasis on the hard approach to drug criminality.
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