Things are
taking a strange, though predictable, turn. Now
Europe
has to make a clear decision.
Maastricht's
Mayor Gerd Leers has told the Dutch parliament that the licensing system that
allows coffee shops to sell 5g of cannabis to each customer should be extended,
to allow them to grow their own plants. "They should have a permit to grow their
own cannabis so that they can cut their ties with the criminals," the mayor
says. "That way we can control things. At the moment our system is so
hypocritical."
Illegal
plantations have sprung up across the
Netherlands
to supply the coffee shops - in outhouses, basements and attics. What are these
secret gardens like? In one old apartment, a bedroom floor is covered with
plastic sheeting and earth, and orange lights provide artificial sunlight above
a mini-forest
of lush
green
plants. For many poorer families in the
Netherlands,
cannabis cultivation has become a tempting way to make some extra cash. There
have been prosecutions, but only a handful. Dutch scientists have warned,
however, of the health dangers from this cottage industry. At a drugs institute
in
Utrecht,
which carries out research for the government, Harald Wychgel hands me samples
collected from the coffee shops - fresh hashish and fat, pre-rolled joints.
"It's not clear how any of this is produced," he says. "So you don't know how
strong it is - whether it's mild or very strong cannabis - or whether pesticides
have been used on the plants. "You cannot be sure what you are smoking. And with
drugs it is always safest to know for sure."
Right-wing
politicians
in the Netherlands say that drugs tourism, and the contradictions this has
revealed in the cannabis laws, show that liberalisation has had its day. They
oppose the Maastricht mayor's call for coffee shops to be given growers'
licences. "The drugs market is a global market," Mrs Joldersma says. "So we
cannot have our liberal
policy
in isolation." Mayor Leers wants all of Europe to treat cannabis as tolerantly
as the Dutch, eliminating drugs tourism, and has summoned fellow civic leaders
from other nations to a conference to tell them the advantages that would bring.
"If you look at the figures you can see that only a small percentage of the
youth in the Netherlands is addicted to cannabis. In Germany, Belgium and France
the figures are much higher," the mayor says. "So our
policy
works. It is a good
policy."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4595018.stm