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Over the past decade,
European drug policy has gone through some dramatic changes toward
greater liberalization. The Netherlands, considered
to have led the way in the liberalization of drug
policy, is only one of a number of West European
countries to relax penalties for marijuana
possession. Now several European nations are
looking to relax penalties on all drugs—including
cocaine and heroin—as Portugal did in July 2001,
when minor possession of all drugs was
decriminalized.
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There is no uniform drug policy in Europe. Some
countries have liberalized their laws, while others
have instituted strict drug control policies. Which
means that the so-called “European Model” is a
misnomer. Like America, the various countries
of Europe are looking for new ways to combat
the worldwide problem of drug abuse.
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The Netherlands has led Europe in the
liberalization of drug policy. “Coffee shops” began
to emerge throughout the Netherlands in 1976,
offering marijuana products for sale. Possession
and sale of marijuana are not legal, but coffee
shops are permitted to operate and sell marijuana
under certain restrictions, including a limit of no
more than 5 grams sold to a person at any one
time, no alcohol or hard drugs, no minors, and no
advertising. In the Netherlands, it is illegal to sell
or possess marijuana products. So coffee shop
operators must purchase their marijuana products
from illegal drug trafficking organizations.
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Apparently, there has been some public
dissatisfaction with the government’s policy.
Recently the Dutch government began considering
scaling back the quantity of marijuana available
in coffee shops from 5 to 3 grams.
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Furthermore, drug
abuse has increased in the Netherlands. From 1984 to 1996, marijuana
use
among 18-25 year olds in Holland increased twofold.
Since legalization of marijuana, heroin
addiction levels in Holland have tripled and
perhaps even quadrupled by some estimates.
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The increasing use of marijuana is responsible for
more than increased crime. It has widespread
social implications as well. The head of Holland’s
best-known drug abuse rehabilitation center has
described what the new drug culture has created:
The strong form of marijuana that most of the
young people smoke, he says, produces “a
chronically passive individual—someone who is
lazy, who doesn’t want to take initiatives, doesn’t
want to be active—the kid who’d prefer to lie in
bed with a joint in the morning rather than getting
up and doing something.”
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Marijuana is not the only illegal drug to find a
home in the Netherlands. The club drug
commonly referred to as Ecstasy (3, 4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine
or MDMA) also has strong roots in the Netherlands. The
majority of the world’s Ecstasy is produced in
clandestine laboratories in the Netherlands and,
to a lesser extent, Belgium.
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The growing Ecstasy problem
in Europe, and the
Netherlands’ pivotal role in Ecstasy production,
has led the Dutch government to look once again
to law enforcement. In May 2001, the government
announced a “Five Year Offensive against the
Production, Trade, and Consumption of
Synthetic Drugs.” The offensive focuses on
more cooperation among the enforcement
agencies with the Unit Synthetic Drugs playing
a pivotal role.
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Recognizing that
the government needs to take firm action to deal with the increasing
levels of
addiction, in April 2001, the Dutch government
established the Penal Care Facility for Addicts.
Like American Drug Treatment Courts, this
facility is designed to detain and treat addicts
(of any drug) who repeatedly commit crimes
and have failed voluntary treatment facilities.
Offenders may be held in this facility for up to
two years, during which time they will go through
a three-phase program. The first phase focuses on
detoxification, while the second and third phases
focus on training for social reintegration.
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The United Kingdom has also experimented with
the relaxation of drug laws. Until the mid-1960s,
British physicians were allowed to prescribe heroin
to certain classes of addicts. According to political
scientist James Q. Wilson, “a youthful drug culture
emerged with a demand for drugs far
different from that of the older addicts.”
Many addicts chose to boycott the
program and continued to get their
heroin from illicit drug distributors.
The British Government’s experiment
with controlled heroin distribution, says
Wilson, resulted in, at a minimum, a
30-fold increase in the number of
addicts in ten years.
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Switzerland has some of the most liberal drug
policies in Europe. In late 1980s, Zurich
experimented with what became known as Needle
Park, where addicts could openly purchase drugs
and inject heroin without
police intervention. Zurich
became the hub for drug
addicts across Europe, until
the experiment was ended,
and “Needle Park” was shut
down.
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Many proponents of
drug legalization or
decriminalization claim
that drug use will be
reduced if drugs were
legalized. However, history
has not shown this assertion
to be true. According to an
October 2000 CNN report, marijuana, the illegal
drug most often decriminalized, is “continuing to
spread in the European Union, with one in five
people across the 15-state bloc having tried it at
least once.”
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It’s not just marijuana use that is increasing in
Europe. According to the 2001 Annual Report
on the State of the Drugs Problem in the European
Union, there is a Europe-wide increase in cocaine
use. The report also cites a new trend of
mixing “base/crack” cocaine with
tobacco in a joint at nightspots. With the
increase in use, Europe is also seeing an
increase in the number of drug users
seeking treatment for cocaine use.
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Drug policy also
has an impact on general crime. In a 2001 study, the British
Home Office found violent crime and
property crime increased in the late 1990s
in every wealthy country except the
United States.
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Not all of Europe has
been swept up in the trend to liberalize drug laws. Sweden, Finland,
and
Greece have the strictest policies against drugs in
Europe. Sweden’s zero-tolerance policy is widely
supported within the country and among the
various political parties. Drug use is relatively
low in the Scandinavian countries.
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In April 1994, a number of European cities signed
a resolution titled “European Cities Against
Drugs,” commonly known as the Stockholm
resolution. It states: “The demands to legalize
illicit drugs should be seen against the background
of current problems, which have led to a feeling
of helplessness. For many, the only way to cope
is to try to administer the current situation. But
the answer does not lie in making harmful drugs
more accessible, cheaper, and socially acceptable. Attempts to do this have not proved successful.
By making them legal, society will signal that it
has resigned to the acceptance of drug abuse. The
signatories to this resolution therefore want to
make their position clear by rejecting the proposals
to legalize illicit drugs. ”