05 Jan 08
Originally posted by Thequ1ckWhat do you mean? My impression is that they view it as a personal choice, should someone become a drug abuser, I'd imagine it's dealt with in the same fashion as alcohol abuse. I don't understand what you mean by "basic confrontation". Admittedly I'm not Dutch, and have never done the student "Amsterdam tour", but as an outsider my impression has always been that their strategy is pretty liberal, though apparently there's musings of cracking down on the drug tourism end of things.
What strategies do the Dutch have for drugs and abuse beyond basic confrontation?
Could you expand on what you mean?
05 Jan 08
6 edits
Originally posted by agrysonI simply want to know the answers that Dutch have for the problems
What do you mean? My impression is that they view it as a personal choice, should someone become a drug abuser, I'd imagine it's dealt with in the same fashion as alcohol abuse. I don't understand what you mean by "basic confrontation". Admittedly I'm not Dutch, and have never done the student "Amsterdam tour", but as an outsider my impression has always bee of cracking down on the drug tourism end of things.
Could you expand on what you mean?
they advocreate is?
06 Jan 08
Originally posted by Thequ1ckIt depends on what drugs you're talking about.
What strategies do the Dutch have for drugs and abuse beyond basic confrontation?
Marijuana is tolerated. You can have an X-amount on your person and coffee shops can sell it (but no other drugs, including alcohol, but excluding tobacco).
Natural drugs like mushrooms, caffeine and natural speed can be sold in various shops (which are not allowed to sell marijuana).
Selling hard drugs, to coin the phrase of our century (excluding alcohol, which by all means is one of the hardest drugs available) is illegal.
If you have enough for one person on you, it will be confiscated.
If you have more, you CAN be arrested.
Drug addiction is seen as a disease, along the lines of alcohol addiction. So drug addicts are not imprisoned for their drugs consumption.
If they're caught doing criminal acts (like breaking and entering), they can get prison sentences, but more often than not they get sent to clinics to try to clean them up and rehabilitate them.
The Dutch government (Right wing and Christian) wants to change many of these laws though. But since Holland's drug abuse is one of the lowest, it's basically more bark than bite.
06 Jan 08
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7172087.stm
"A Dutch judge has ordered a leading Amsterdam brothel to close, as part of a campaign to cut links between the sex trade and organised crime.
The judge upheld the city's complaint that the Yab Yum Club had been taken over by the Hells Angels biker gang."
If the Dutch want to protect their ability to operate places that sell drugs and/or sex, they have to do something about organized crime. This kind of thing is fertile ground for mobs. Get rid of the crime and you can get rid of most of the opposition.