cannabisnews.com: Call for Legal Ecstasy Call for Legal Ecstasy Posted by CN Staff on September 08, 2003 at 08:00:36 PT By Our Internet Desk Source: Radio Netherlands The Netherlands' international reputation for a liberal and pragmatic approach to drugs has been reinforced by a call from one of the main opposition parties to allow ecstasy (MDMA) to be sold legally. The opposition Green Left party, claiming that the current Dutch approach to hard drugs is not working, has proposed changing laws to bring the policing policy on drugs such as ecstasy in line with policy on cannabis. While cannabis is not strictly legal in the Netherlands, personal possession of up to 5g is not a crime, and licensed "Coffeeshops" are permitted to sell the drug. Caroline van Dullemen, head of the scientific unit of the Green Left, says allowing the sale of ecstasy could actually reduce its production. In this interview with RN's Claire Cavanagh, she explains why she believes the move is needed. "What we have been seeing is that the judicial system in the Netherlands is largely overstrained due to drug-related crime. It is believed that about 50 percent of all the activities of the judges and the police have a relation to drug-related crime, and due to that it means that other heavy crimes like theft and even murder and other serious crimes are getting less and less attention. That made us very worried.""We came to the idea of maybe finding a more pragmatic way to deal with drugs, because the main question is that there is a large demand for legal drugs. Ecstasy is – next to cannabis – the illegal drug [most widely] used for recreational purposes in the Netherlands, mainly by youth in party time. We don't know enough about the addiction effects, but so far in the Netherlands, our main clinics like the Jellinek and other institutions which help drug addicts, are not convinced that ecstasy is heavily addictive." RN: "But do you think this will cut ecstasy production, because surely you are creating a market by putting it in the shops for people to buy?" "That is the question. It would be wonderful if we had a laboratory situation where we actually can see whether that is the case. The only way we can compare the drugs market is, for instance, with cannabis. The use of cannabis in the Netherlands in youth – let's say drug starters – is far less than for instance, in the US. And the US has a very repressive policy, and there, it is said, about 41 percent of youth is using it regularly, and in the Netherlands it's far less. We don't believe that having a very restrictive policy helps people not to use." RN: "Would you stop at ecstasy or do you think a drug like cocaine should be dealt with in this way?" "Well cocaine might be another question. With ecstasy, it's a very clear group. It's mainly youth who are using it, it's what they call a party drug. Cocaine might be another question, though even cocaine is used a lot in recreational spheres. In arty circles, ballet-dancers, journalists, public relations officers. Coke is used in all kinds of layers of our society, and mainly when you talk about hard drugs, we think about the people on the margins of society, the junkies, who we meet everyday in our train stations, and even for them we are not convinced that penalising it, keeping it in the penal code, is very helpful."Source: Radio NetherlandsPublished: September 8, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Radio Netherlands Website: http://www.rnw.nl/URL: http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/ned030908.htmlRelated Articles:Pragmatic Dutch Tolerate Ecstasy Use http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9374.shtmlThe Ecstasy Generationhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8665.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #11 posted by FoM on September 09, 2003 at 09:16:48 PT rchandar I can't find the article. I'm not sure where to look. Do you have a link to the article or is it in the forum?http://williewortel.org [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by rchandar on September 09, 2003 at 08:39:19 PT: article read the article posted at williewortel.org. according to nol van schaik, they are going to try to declare "war on coffeeshops" in a few weeks. i hope this isn't true, but... --rchandar [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by The GCW on September 09, 2003 at 06:40:57 PT Richard Lake Thanks for the update and the news.One of the Green Collar Workers. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Richard Lake on September 08, 2003 at 21:20:48 PT: Robert Sharpe's superb OPED Yup,My friend Robert Sharpe had a superb OPED printed in the Sunday Detroit news. Robert is reform's most published letter to the editor writer. See http://mapinc.org/lteaward.htmNow, in addition to helping with DrugSense Focus Alerts, he is writing OPEDs for sale (yes, you get paid when you get an OPED like the below published).Take a look at the online page, also:http://www.detnews.com/2003/editorial/0309/07/a15-263878.htmGetting an oped published in the Sunday edition of the Detroit News is really special. Sunday's edition is combined with the Detroit Free Press, and together the edition has a really huge circulation. 1,702,500 readers in the Metro Detroit area on Sunday as well as readers all over the state. It is The Sunday paper here in Yooperland, many hours drive from Detroit.Robert, who has come a long way as a reform activist from when I first met him as a college student and SSDP chapter president - now married and with a new baby, is currently looking for full time employment, so I would guess that picking up a few $$$ writing OPEDs helps.He says he will get back into LTE writing when he can, but finding work comes first, for now.Richard [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by afterburner on September 08, 2003 at 17:58:06 PT: Ex.cel.lent link, The GCW First, we hear from the nurses and clinicians who treat the patients, then, another police chief: people on the front lines who see that cannabis prohibition is harming the needy, leading to corruption and crime, and wasting tax dollars. And in the Detroit News, a mainstream paper yet: these are the people who need to hear our news. LTE anyone? "Robert Sharpe is a contributing writer to the DKT Liberty Project, a nonprofit civil liberties organization in Washington, D.C. Write letters to letters detnews.com ." letters detnews.com [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by FoM on September 08, 2003 at 17:57:48 PT News Ads from Change The Climate http://www.changetheclimate.org/campaigns/08_03_dc/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by The GCW on September 08, 2003 at 17:10:38 PT Haven't heard from Robert Sharpe lately? Here... US MI: OPED: Stop Drug War From Causing Problems For Detroit http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n1348/a01.html?397STOP DRUG WAR FROM CAUSING PROBLEMS FOR DETROIT POLICE This past summer no fewer than 17 Detroit police officers were indicted on charges of stealing drugs and money from suspected drug dealers over two years. In the high-profile Los Angeles Police Department Rampart scandal three years ago, only nine officers were ultimately prosecuted, yet the Detroit scandal barely made headlines outside of Michigan. Have the media grown weary of reporting on police corruption? Let's hope not. In these times of elevated terrorist alerts, it's imperative that America's first responders are dedicated protectors of the peace, not financial predators. Detroit Chief of Police Jerry Oliver was no doubt less than thrilled when the prohibition-related corruption he's warned about hit home. In a powerful critique of the war on drugs published in The Detroit News last October, Oliver held up the Los Angeles Police Department scandal as a salient example of what can happen when police tasked with preventing consensual acts succumb to the lure of dirty money. Critical of current drug war strategy, Oliver has for years boldly argued that the drug war needs rethinking. The combination of informants culled from the criminal underworld and overzealous prosecutors have dangerous implications. Whether or not a defendant is actually guilty, the informant profits when he snitches on someone else, even if it's a lie. This practice lends itself to entrapment and incarceration of innocent people. Good cops aren't immune to the profit motive. Civil asset forfeiture laws provide an incentive for police to legally seize the cars, cash and homes of suspected drug offenders, and the temptation to steal proves too great for some. It now falls to Chief Oliver to clean up a troubled department. As an outspoken drug war critic who brings unassailable credentials to the debate, he should be commended for connecting the dots. The institutional corruption created by the drug war stretches from coast to coast and reaches the highest levels. The Los Angeles Rampart scandal involved anti-drug officers selling drugs and framing gang members. And it's not just cops. Col. James Hiett, a former commander of U.S. anti-drug operations in Colombia, was found guilty of laundering the profits of his wife's heroin smuggling operation. Entire countries have been destabilized by the corrupting influence of the illegal drug trade. The self-professed champions of the free market in Congress are seemingly incapable of applying basic economic principles to drug policy. Efforts to eradicate the supply of illicit drugs while consumer demand remains strong only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. This is tantamount to taxpayer-funded price supports for mobsters. It also virtually guarantees police corruption. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. Unintended consequences like police corruption are in no way justified by lower rates of illicit drug use. The drug war is in large part a war on marijuana, by far the most popular illicit drug. Based on findings that criminal prosecutions are inappropriate as health interventions, a majority of European Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. The University of Michigan's Monitoring the Future study reports that lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country, yet America is one of the few Western countries that uses its criminal justice system to punish otherwise law-abiding citizens who prefer marijuana to martinis. The land of the free now has the highest incarceration rate in the world in large part due to the war on illicit drugs. It's not possible to wage a moralistic war against consensual vices unless privacy is eliminated, along with the Constitution. If America is to be a free country, the war on drugs must stop. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by mayan on September 08, 2003 at 16:07:17 PT Failed U.S. Policy Read it and weep, Johnny Pee!"The use of cannabis in the Netherlands in youth – let's say drug starters – is far less than for instance, in the US. And the US has a very repressive policy, and there, it is said, about 41 percent of youth is using it regularly, and in the Netherlands it's far less. We don't believe that having a very restrictive policy helps people not to use."THE WAY OUT IS THE WAY IN...9/11 conspiracy theories gaining ground: http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/268874.htmBritish official charges US “stood down” on 9/11: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/meac-s08.shtmlEx ministro britannico su 11 settembre(article in English): http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2003/09/370001.php9/11 theorists to meet in Berlin: http://www.expatica.com/germany.asp?pad=190,205,&item_id=34000 9/11 - A Smorgasbord Of Shocking News About Government Failures: http://www.coastalpost.com/03/09/08.htm9/11 Special Reports: http://www.gaianxaos.com/SpecialReports.htm9/11 Truth Alliance: http://www.911truth.org/ [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Richard Lake on September 08, 2003 at 15:40:15 PT: Drug Truth Network Presents: Wars of Eternity Drug Truth Network Presents:In a two hour special presentation to be broadcast on Tuesday, 9/9/03 from 10:05 AM till Noon CDT, host Dean Becker and a panel of 5 experts will discuss the mechanisms of the drug war and how the laws against the use of certain drugs have been usurped and compounded in the war of terror. (Broadcast from the Pacifica studios of KPFT, Houston, 90.1 FM and online at http://www.kpft.org )Guests will include:Dr. Mitch Earleywine, a noted researcher, author and speaker about the beneficial uses of marijuana. http://www.mapinc.org/people/Earleywine http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread14712.shtmlDr. David Duncan, Prof. at Brown Univ. regarding the truth about the use of hard drugs and how the black market is responsible for more deaths than is the use of the drugs themselves. http://duncan-associates.com/biography.htmlMike Gray, author of "Drug Crazy - How we got into this mess and how we can get out" and editor of "Busted: Stone Cowboys, Narco-Lords and Washington's War on Drugs" http://www.drugcrazy.com/mikegray.htm http://www.mapinc.org/people/Mike+GrayEugene Oscapella, Canadian Barrister and author of "The Links Between Drug Prohibition and Terrorism." is a founding member of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy http://www.oscapella.ca/ http://www.cfdp.ca/ http://www.mapinc.org/people/Eugene+OscapellaSanho Tree, a Fellow and Director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. http://www.ips-dc.org/bios.htm#Sanho%20Tree http://www.mapinc.org/people/Sanho+TreeFollowing the broadcast, the show will be stored in MP3 format at this location: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/audio/eternal.mp3 (Will be online before midnight of 9/9/03.In that the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy is in 2 days, we anticipate this show will contain many pertinent statements by this fine panel that could be used by other stations focusing on the 2 year war of terror. We give permission to use this file in total or in part. We only ask that you provide us with a notice of said use, noting the station and location of the broadcast.NOTE: Also on Tuesday, 9/9/03, with a broadcast time of 6:30-7:00 PM, CDT, the regularly scheduled "Cultural Baggage - The Unvarnished Truth about the Drug War" will air on KPFT in Houston as well. This show features the "on the ground" reporting of Mr. Al Giordano of http://www.narconews.com/ We will continue the analysis of the silent war that has raged in Central and South America for nearly 4 decades and it's comparison to the war of terror.This show will be stored by midnight, 9/9/03, as well and will be located at: http://www.cultural-baggage.com/audio/FDBCB_090903.mp3.On Wednesday, Sept 10, 2003, at 2:30 PM, EDT, (and each week thereafter,) Cultural Baggage will be available on the KU band following the distribution of the Disability Radio show. (On the LEFT side 29:00 in length)If you have any questions in this regard, please contact Dean Becker at dean cultural-baggage.comOur network is growing, and we need your assistance to help end the eternal war on drugs.Thank you,Dean Becker11215 Oak SpringHouston, Tx. 77043281-752-9198Reporter, KPFT Radio, HoustonPresident, Houston NORMLCommunity Liaison, Drug Policy Forum of TexasAuthor: Century of Lies, Declaration of Evident TruthPublisher: Drug Truth Listen live at KPFT [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Sam Adams on September 08, 2003 at 12:02:52 PT This proposal is sheer MADNESS! No, no, please don't take us back to that dark era of anarchy and chaos......before 1985 when ecstasy was legal! [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Richard Paul Zuckerm on September 08, 2003 at 08:13:15 PT: MAYBE THE GREEN LEFT PARTY SHOULD LOOK AT USA!! Someone should tell the Green Left Party that the "Drug War" is not working, either! Take a look at the U.S.A. as a perfect example, over 2 million people in jail in the U.S.A., the personality of Americans generally that of scared, cold, gold diggers, paranoid...Yet the American people are supposed to be sovereign!!! Take a look at the HISTORY of the Cannabis laws in the U.S.A.: Shadow of the Swastika, www.sumeria.net/politics/shadv3.html? Congress has gone so far as to submit legislation, H.R. 1078, introduced by Rep. Roger Wicker (R-MS), which would set up Presidential Academies to train educators in teaching civics and history, which, of course, would teach gun control and DARE lies. Please read www.johntaylorgatto.com on similar matters?Richard Paul Zuckerman, Box 159, Metuchen, N.J., 08840-0159, (Cell telephone number)(908)403-6990, www.normlnj.org; www.fromthewilderness.com; www.njlp.org; www.aclu-nj.org; www.GreenParty.org. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment