All narcotics are banned in Holland

In the evening, downtown Amsterdam is drowned in smoke and everyone can puff a stick of grass simply on the street. However, narcotics in the Netherlands are illegal, we have learned. Then, why do people smoke the banned marijuana?



The main peculiarity of the Dutch is that they look at the problem of drugs openly and objectively. Peter van Dijk from Trimbos instituut that carries out mental health and addiction studies says their view is that it is impossible to get rid of narcotics. Rather, they should be controlled in a clever way.
“One of our main goals is to lessen the harm caused by narcotics, because we have realized that narcotics were, are and will always be around. This position took shape in the Netherlands as far back asin 1960s. One can fight narcotics like they do it in the United States, but this does not help, says Peter.
But the policy of the Netherlands on this issue is efficient. This has been recognised by almost all European countries:

Peter van Dijk: “We know that our policy is working. If you look at the figures in the European Union, the Netherlands accounts for the lost mortality rate among addicts.”
In Holland, this policy is regulated by Opium Laws which stipulate that all narcotics are banned like in other European countries. But the Dutch try to correlate the law with the reality. That's why there are unwritten rules regarding the narcotics.
Peter van Dijk: “We know that many people use marijuana. So, it is better to sell it shops so that we know that people use a good-quality grass. Our specialists from Trimbos instituut check the quality of marijuana and hash-hash in our labs twice a year.”
There appears to be a contradiction. The Opium Laws ban marijuana but allow to open coffee-shops and smoke marijuana privately.

How can it be explained that it is allowed to smoke but not allowed to carry marijuana in a pocket. Peter van Dijk continues::

Peter van Dijk: “This is our problem. It has been banned to grow marijuana in Holland. Therefore, coffee-shops buy it at the black market. Selling marijuana from a coffeeshop counter is also illegal, but we allow doing it.”
There have been a lot of discussions in the Netherlands over this matter. Some propose to allow growing marijuana, some demand to close down coffee-shops. No one can say exactly what the situation with narcotics will be, but many coffee-shops were closed because of the activities of Christian-Democratic parties in the country.

In order to control the operation of coffee shops, a special police force called Joint Hit Team was set up in Amsterdam. If a coffee-shop does not comply with the rules, it can be fined or closed down.
“Coffee-shops are regulated thoroughly", says Peter van Dijk. "They must follow certain rules: they are banned from selling marijuana to teenagers, from advertising it, from storing heavy drugs and more than 500 grams of marijuana. If a coffee-shop violates the rules twice, it will be closed down right away.”
Different from Belarus where one can get between two and five years in prison for having marijuana in a pocket, a man who uses narcotics is not accused by the law in the Netherlands. Peter van Dijk says that drug addicts should not be prosecuted. On the contrary, they receive assistance in the Netherlands.

Peter van Dijk: “Whatever you use -- cocain, extasy, marijuana or anything else, you will never be imprisoned. You will be just given information about narcotics. If every addict is sent to prison, there will be a need for a too many prisons.”
Holland's specifics are that the youth are not afraid of talking about narcotics with parents, at school or between themselves. This helps them understand the situation and what is more important, it gibves specialist an objective picture of who, where and how uses drugs.

Peter van Dijk: “When a new drug pops up and becomes popular, we can immediately monitor it and make preventive measures or ban it”.
The European Radio for Belarus saw how such a liberal policy works in reality. Most of our Dutch friends do not use narcotics. At the end of our conversation, Peter van Dijk noted that bans definitely do not help fight drug addiction.

Peter van Dijk: “It is not true that all the Dutch are drug addicts because of our liberal policy. If you go to a high school and ask whether students used marijuana, most of them would say no. In other countries, they would say yes. And that's because if something is banned, it attracts young people even more.”
Photo: Tosia Kuks