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| Café Society Makes Cannabis Respectable |
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Posted by FoM on July 18, 2001 at 13:32:01 PT By Stephen McGinty Source: Scotsman 
In the Purple Rain Coffee Shop, sitting next to a jukebox in the shape of a Pink Cadillac, Marcel is rolling a big, fat joint. Between swigs of Looza Ace, a bright orange vitamin drink, his long, nimble fingers are sticking Rizla papers together, heaping on tobacco before sprinkling a generous amount of cannabis resin. The package is then licked and sealed into something resembling a fat cigarette. Firing it up with a black plastic lighter, the lad in the Timberland T-shirt takes a deep draw, smiles and blows smoke and hot air. "That is worth a long drive in a slow car," Marcel says in English. "The Netherlands - we salute you." Breda, 120 kilometers from Amsterdam and nestled on the border with Belgium, sees an influx of young French, Germans and Belgians each weekend. They are drawn not by the elegant streets or magnificent gothic cathedral, but the contents of the little metal boxes kept behind coffee shop bars and labelled in ball-point: hash, weed or mix. They are drug tourists, drawn by £2 joints and a country that grants them freedom to smoke without fear of prosecution and confiscation. Holland has long been the home of the hash head. Here, cannabis, like alcohol and nicotine, is acceptable as a recreational drug. On 1 November, the Netherlands celebrates the 25th anniversary of its controversial and pioneering approach to drug use. There will be no cakes in the shape of a giant joint or banners drawn across the entrance to coffee shops, just quiet confidence in a successful system. As the UK begins to question its own punitive and restrictive approach to drugs and looks across the North Sea for a lead, the key questions remain. How does it work? How successful has it been? What could we apply in Britain? The world’s perception of Holland’s attitude to drugs is a maze of misconceptions. Under the Opium Act, the distribution, production, trafficking and possession of drugs is entirely illegal. Cannabis possession still carries a one-month prison sentence and a fine of £1,500, yet since 1976, the authorities have chosen not to enforce the law. The cultivation of hashish and marijuana is illegal, permissible only by licence for medicinal or scientific purposes, or, bizarrely, in the case of hemp, as a wind-break. This leads to the paradoxical situation where the coffee shops are selling an illegal drug, whose owners must purchase supplies illegally from dealers, while police turn a blind eye. The reason is the belief cannabis is a relatively safe or "soft" drug that should be firmly separated from "hard", more dangerous and addictive drugs such as heroin and cocaine. "It’s a great idea," said Marcel, 23, an engineer from Brussels who arrived in Breda in a clapped-out red Renault with two friends for a weekend of smoking. The money they save by sleeping in their car is ploughed back into a ready supply of joints to smuggle home across the border. "What is wrong with a few joints? It helps you relax and everybody is cool. We shouldn’t have to drive 100 kilometers to smoke in peace." Waving his joint across the room, he asks: "Is there anything wrong with this place?" Abdul Hussan, the Moroccan manager and provider of the antique Hookah pipes that sit on the shelves, believes not. The police, he explains, regularly visit, supplies of cannabis are restricted to a specific amount and any transgression results in closure. "No fights, we have no fights," he says, pointing at his crowd of placid customers. A father of three children aged four to 15, he would allow them, when over 18, to smoke dope: "If they tried anything else, I would kick their a***s." Critics of the system were concerned coffee shops would encourage cannabis use among the young and, for nearly two decades, they were proved correct. Cannabis use among school children did increase but the rise was reflected across the world, including far stricter countries. Last year, cannabis use among students actually dropped slightly. Among children aged 15-16, 14 per cent regularly smoke cannabis. In Britain, the figure is 16 per cent. A second concern is cannabis as a gateway to harder drugs. The World Health Organisation, however, says the greatest risk of moving from soft to hard drugs is the exposure to opportunity provided by the black market. Where the system is separated, as in Holland, the rate of hard drug abuse should be reduced. For many years, the number of Dutch heroin addicts slowly increased, but has now begun to fall. In the Netherlands, the percentage of hard-drug addicts is less than half that found in Britain, while the number of drug deaths is minuscule. In 1995, the Netherlands (population of 16 million) had just 70 drug deaths; Britain (population 50 million) had 1,389. Yet the Netherlands will never be a drug-friendly Nirvana. Ecstasy use among 15-16 year-olds is, at 4 per cent, the highest in Europe (3 per cent in Britain), while the use of cocaine is rising. The prevalence of ecstasy manufacturing and smuggling has necessitated the creation of the Synthetic Drug Unit, a police force dedicated exclusively to the investigation and prosecution of suppliers. Although increasingly successful, the Dutch authorities are aware that because of their unique position, possessing in Rotterdam the largest port in the world and huge unmanned borders with Belgium and Germany, the country will remain popular with drug smugglers. The most impressive element of the Netherlands’ drug policy is not tolerance, but dedication to prevention and the assertive treatment of addicts. In Britain, care of addiction remains a scattered concern handled by dozens of religious and secular agencies. The Netherlands offers a one-stop shop. In Breda, an organisation called Kentron, housed in three modern brick buildings, offers help and advice on every form of addiction. The cornerstone is information. "Just Say No" is a discredited policy and anyone can ask about the safest way to take any drug. In his office, Marcel Wilderon, who works in preventive education, said: "In Holland we accept that people want to take drugs. It’s a myth that you can stop them. It is much more important that people are aware of the risks and limit them as much as possible." In a point cutting to the heart of the drugs debate, Wilderon added: "They are young consumers. They will make their own decisions." Note: The bright lights of Breda’s café district draw cannabis supporters from across Europe. For users, the Netherlands’ liberal attitudes mean the open smoking of joints. Newshawk: Jack D. Related Articles: Lilley Renews Cannabis Call After Hash Cafe Tour Dutch Border Town Plans Drug Drive-Throughs Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #1 posted by The GCW on July 18, 2001 at 19:13:39 PT |
| In America, Indians can open a casino in a state that other wise will not allow it. Indians should be able to install smoke cafes for cannabis in casinos. I would go into a casino to toke. I think many others would also. [ Post Comment ] |
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