In "Has the time come to legalize drugs?" Andres Oppenheimer, the influential opinion maker about Latin American affairs at the Miami Herald, describes how the debate about cannabis regulation "is rapidly moving to the mainstream in
The Dutch experience is relevant for the current debate about regulating drugs in Latin America. Sitting and former Presidents of Mexico have called for such a debate as a possible answer to the spiralling violence unleashed by an all-out military offensive by President Felipe Calderón against
Oppenheimer puts the question to White House drug czar R. Gil Kerlikowske, who opposes moves in that direction in spite of the fact that the debate is heating up in the
Without going into the details here about the scientific evidence of the criminogenic effects of alcohol prohibition, it makes one wonder whether Kerlikowske ever goes to the movies. But the second argument he makes is that the experience in The Netherlands proves that relaxation of cannabis laws makes consumption rates go up, and that the Dutch government has recognised so much and is now reversing its strategy. "In the
Kerlikowske basically argues that it has been tried already and failed, that the Dutch experience has shown the negative consequences of relaxing cannabis control and therefore
Reasons for the decline are rooted in a process of increased regulation of what was initially a somewhat unregulated growth. The coffeeshop model was not designed from above but was a market response to the policy decision to lower prosecution priority for cannabis possession, the de facto decriminalization that underlies Dutch cannabis policy. The reduction of the number of coffeeshops was the result of a stricter implementation of the rules established in early nineties such as no sales to minors and no stocks larger than 500 grs, and some new regulations more recently about minimum distance from schools and no criminal record for licensed owners, etc.
Despite the tolerated sale of 5 gram amounts to adults through the coffeeshop system, the levels of consumption of cannabis in The Netherlands are still similar to those of neighbouring countries like
Last year an indepth evaluation of Dutch drugs policy trends and outcomes between 1972 and 2008 arrived at a number of clear conclusions:
This is also confirmed by the annual reports and statistics produced by the EMCDDA, the European drug monitoring centre in
Last 30 days prevalence of cannabis use among all adults (aged 15 to 64), young adults (aged 15 to 34) and for the 15 to 24 year age group (EMCDDA Statistical bulletin 2010)
The problems surrounding the Dutch coffeeshop model are not that it increased cannabis use, but are rooted in the paradox that the sale and possession of small quantities are no longer prosecuted, while the supply to the coffeeshops (cultivation and trade in larger amounts) are still fully criminalized. Since 2000 a parliamentary majority has been in favour of experiments with the legal regulation of cannabis supply, to take that out of criminal hands and bring it under health authority control.
So far none of the Dutch governments had the courage to implement those resolutions, based on the argument that it would violate their obligations under the UN drug control treaties. Many municipalities have expressed their wish to start such experiments at a local level. It is the only way to end the paradox and to reduce the criminality still surrounding the supply-side of the cannabis market. Many mayors in The Netherlands, and many civil servants and parliamentarians, will applaud wholeheartedly if either
Very few would argue that the lessons of the Dutch model warn in any way against that. To the contrary, the experiences of The Netherlands and other countries that have introduced more tolerant policies towards cannabis like Spain, Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Australia and parts of the United States and India, have provided only positive lessons supporting the argument that it is time to move to the next stage: experimenting with legal regulation of production and distribution of cannabis more similar to control models developed for tobacco and alcohol.
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