GOING DUTCH

Can America learn from the Netherlands' drug policy of tolerance and
ambiguity?

The pungent perfume of grass wafts down the Amsterdam street where you walk,
under shade trees on a curving canal fronted by landmark brick buildings.
You look up, nostrils flaring. Neon lights wink from the facades of cafes
with names like the Grasshopper, Dutch Flowers or the Bulldog.

Better known as "smoking coffee shops," these Dutch dope dens dispense soft
drugs, marijuana and hashish, to a mixed bag of customers. Tourists and
locals saunter in then stagger out in a cloud of smoke. Inside the air is
blue. People puff and joke, some of them laughing crazily, others digging
into snacks while lounging in armchairs. Seventies rock alternates with cool
jazz and house music. Soft-drug menus are passed from behind the bar, where
an "ethical dealer" has just delivered half a kilo of "skunk nederwiet" --
the Netherlands' prized, domestically grown high-THC power weed.

A couple of bucks buys you a joint of it. Even if you don't light up your
head begins to spin from a contact high. You glance around nervously,
expecting the cops to show up. But they don't. And they won't. As long as
the coffee shop plays by the rules.

That's where the confusion comes in. Popular misconceptions about the Dutch
approach to consuming and regulating drugs have remained firmly rooted
across Europe and America since the Dutch began liberalizing drug-use
policies in 1975.

It's true that you can still smoke grass or even shoot up without fear of
punishment in Holland. But drugs, even marijuana and hash, have never been
legal, are not legal now and are unlikely ever to be legalized in the
Netherlands. Like Americans, most Dutch want drugs to remain illegal; unlike
Americans, the Dutch are realistic about who should go to jail.

The Dutch are progressively tightening the screws: The number of
drug-related arrests in Holland -- many involving the booming synthetic
drugs trade -- has more than doubled since 1995. Lately the Dutch Ministry
of Justice has even begun using the outdated and inaccurate American
nomenclature "war on drugs" in reference to their efforts to fight
international drug trafficking. That's in part because the Netherlands has
become not only Europe's cannabis and cannabis-seed capital, but also a
major production, warehousing and shipping center for ecstasy (and related
synthetic drugs), as well as a transit country for heroin and cocaine.

The popular misconception about the Netherlands' drug policy -- that
anything goes -- stems from two quintessentially Dutch attitudes that have
underpinned Dutch society for the last 400 years: tolerance and ambiguity.
Tolerance, which the Dutch call "gedogen," has been a way of life since the
Catholic-Protestant religious strife of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Drugs -- alcohol, tobacco and opiates -- have been tolerated at least that
long. Scholars now point out that the merrymakers in the fanciful Golden Age
paintings of Jan Steen (1626-1679) and Adriaen Brouwer (active 1620s-30s)
appear to be more than merely drunk as they stagger, swoon and grope through
atmospheric inns and taverns.

They may well be tripping, too. Indeed, historians wonder whether the Golden
Age Dutch mixed narcotics with their tobacco. The institution of the Brown
Cafe -- so called because the walls of such places haven't been scrubbed
since the Golden Age -- is still going strong, booze and cigarettes being
the demons of choice.

And demons they are: In its November 1999 report, "Drug Policy in the
Netherlands," the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (MHWS) clearly
states that "the social and health damage that results from alcohol abuse
and alcoholism [in the Netherlands] is many times greater than the damage
resulting from drug use."

As it relates to narcotics today, the Dutch sense of tolerance means that
use of small quantities (5 grams or less) of "soft drugs" -- marijuana and
hashish -- is not a criminal offence. Use of even smaller quantities (0.5
grams) of "hard drugs" -- cocaine, heroin, ecstasy -- is also tolerated,
though users will be referred to rehabilitation centers, and repeat
offenders can be forced to choose between long-term detoxification or
prison.

Here's where the ambiguity comes in: Use is not a crime but possession of
any drugs, hard or soft, is. More ambiguity: Possession of small quantities
for personal use (5 grams and 0.5 grams, as per above) is generally
tolerated, unless the user is a repeat offender or a troublemaker (i.e.,
causes a public nuisance). In any event, all illicit drugs, no matter how
small the quantity, found during police searches of persons or places are
systematically confiscated. The number of searches and seizures continues to
rise dramatically. Importing, exporting, selling, trafficking, manufacturing
or growing any illicit drugs is also a crime subject to fines (5,000 to 1
million Dfl, or $2,500 to $500,000) and/or imprisonment (four to 16 years).

Related to this is another series of ambiguous facts to put in your pipe and
smoke. The country's 861 "smoking coffee shops" (290 in Amsterdam alone) are
allowed to sell adult clients (18 and over) small amounts (5 grams per
person per transaction) of soft drugs. But in theory they can't advertise
the drugs, can't sell alcohol on the same premises, can't allow clients to
cause a public nuisance, can't sell drugs for take-out use or have more soft
drugs on hand than the coffee shop conceivably needs to supply clients'
daily demands (500 grams, just over a pound).

But if importing or growing dope is illegal, you might ask, how do these
legitimate establishments get their supplies? The question makes Dutch
government officials queasy. "This is the inherent paradox of the Dutch drug
policy," says Frank Kuitenbrouwer, a legal commentator and member of the
editorial board of the NRC Handelsblad, a leading centrist Dutch newspaper.
"It's known as the front-door/back-door problem: if the Dutch government
tolerates people going in the front door of the coffee shop, what about the
back door, the supply?"

Unofficially, police authorities allow "ethical dealers" -- individual
small-scale suppliers untainted by international trafficking rings -- to
handle transactions. But an Amsterdam city official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, told me he believes that 90 percent of smoking coffee shops in
the city are controlled by organized crime.

This is where tolerance and ambiguity become dangerous. "The
front-door/back-door policy has created an enormous amount of organized
crime in Holland," confirms reporter Kurt van Es, a drug specialist at
Amsterdam's top daily Het Parool, and pro-legalization author of a book on
smoking coffee shops and soft drugs. "The Dutch have become the Colombians
of marijuana and hash trafficking in Europe."

The Netherlands is a major marijuana growing country (of plants and,
especially, seeds for export). Estimates are that if they were allowed to,
Dutch growers could supply about 75 percent of domestic demand, thereby
undercutting organized crime. But Dutch anti-drug squads systematically root
out hemp plantations, and growing will probably remain illegal due partly to
pressure from the E.U. and America. "This is a very bizarre situation," adds
van Es, "but somehow we don't dare take the further step of legalizing the
trade of soft drugs at coffee shops or other points of sale -- bars or
pharmacies." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Curiously, at the
perfumed floating Flower Market in central Amsterdam you can tiptoe through
tulips and buy blooms in any season -- and marijuana starter kits. They sell
for about 15 Dfl, around $7.50. Follow instructions and you get smokeable,
albeit weedy, plants in about 10 days. You see pot plants on cozy barges
along picturesque canals, and on the window sills of old brick houses.
Illegal? Yes, but tolerated. The Dutch officially call their confusing brand
of ambiguity regarding drugs "The Expediency Principle." That means officers
and officials can decide case-by-case whether it's in the public interest to
arrest or detain drug users, growers and suppliers.

In recent years another recreational substance has sprung up in the forest
of Dutch ambiguity: magic mushrooms. The Dutch call them "paddos" or "smart
drugs." They are sold dried, powdered or as spore starter kits at dozens of
New Agey stores (they're most popular in Amsterdam). Many smart drug
boutiques also sell mescaline, and boast pause-for-thought names like
"Conscious Dreams." Attempts to regulate them are under study (they may soon
become illegal, but tolerated). The Dutch MWHS concedes that "no reliable
data is available on the scale of [their] use."

The ultimate stated goal of the Dutch government's drug policies is to
"protect the health of individual users, the people around them and society
as a whole," according to the Ministry of Justice. In concrete terms that
translates into decriminalizing -- while actively discouraging -- personal
drug use; separating the markets and use-patterns of "soft" and "hard"
drugs; keeping all drug users out of jail; rehabilitating and reintegrating
addicts rather than repressing and punishing them; controlling the
trafficking, import, export, manufacturing and growing of illicit drugs.

This approach is markedly different from America's $18 billion a year war on
drugs, better known to many in Holland as "the John Wayne" approach. Of the
2 million U.S. prison population, 500,000 are non-violent drug offenders
(though the classification is itself ambiguous). The prevailing view in the
U.S. appears to be that there should be no distinction between soft and hard
drugs, that "use is abuse" and that tolerance leads to increased use of
drugs of all kinds.

The Dutch have been applying their imperfect methods -- like other countries
they seem unable to control organized crime or ecstasy/amphetamine
production and use -- to fighting narcotics for about 25 years. By a variety
of measures (notably habitual use and addiction rates) they appear to be
working. For example, it's estimated Dutch authorities reach 75-80 percent
of heroin users. After rising sharply from 10,000 in 1979 their number has
hovered between 25,000-28,000 for years and is falling as addicts' average
age (currently 36) increases. Dutch rehab efforts are applauded by European,
and even American, drug-control agencies.

The Dutch argue that there is no statistical evidence to suggest tolerance
has spawned a "drug culture," or that soft drugs dispensed by smoking coffee
shops are a "gateway" leading to hard drugs. But U.S. officials disagree. "I
don't think the argument is premised on, is marijuana a gateway drug?" says
Rob Housman, assistant director of strategic planning at the Office of
National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in Washington.

"I'm insisting that marijuana on its own is not benign. That marijuana has
dramatic, terrible consequences for large numbers of the youths that use it
and independent of any other impact on any other drug, those are risks that
are unacceptable for America's kids. Separate from that, does societal
acceptance of drugs, hard or soft, create an attitude that in turn leads to
other drug use?"

The answer, according to the ONDCP, is yes. However, according to the
November Dutch MHWS report, the percentage of Dutch adults (age 12 and over)
that have used cocaine is 2.1 percent in the Netherlands, compared to 10.5
percent in the U.S. -- five times as high. Cannabis has been used by 15.6
percent of Dutch (age 12 and over) while the U.S. figure is 32.9 percent for
the same age group.

The U.S. contests the validity of these data, citing incomparable survey
methods. "I don't think we ought to worry about whether there is a bigger
Dutch problem or a bigger U.S. drug problem," notes Housman of the ONDCP.
"The problem is we all have a problem. We have different approaches. What is
acceptable, what is workable within one society, may not be the right
solution for another society."

Data from the E.U.'s nonpartisan European Monitoring Center for Drugs and
Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) show that in many other European countries (which do
not have Dutch smoking coffee shops) consistently higher rates of drug use
prevail (especially in Spain, the U.K. and Denmark), compared to the
Netherlands.

Rates of problem drug use (defined by the EMCDDA as "intravenous or long
duration/regular use of opiates, cocaine and/or amphetamines") are lower in
the Netherlands than in Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, the U.K. and Norway, and almost on a par with those reported in
Germany, Austria, Finland and Sweden.

"I wouldn't say drugs are banal," notes Frank Kuitenbrouwer of the NRC
Handelsblad. "They're normal, we talk about them with our kids. The idea is
not to criminalize or demonize drugs. Everyone agrees that tolerance has
worked, but coffee shops are a nuisance and there has been a backlash."

In fact hundreds of operating licenses have been pulled from smoking coffee
shops in the last five years because of complaints about public nuisance.
Drug tourism in Dutch border cities routinely "disgusts" and "revolts"
locals. "Amsterdam is not only the marijuana and marijuana seed capital of
Europe," says Kuitenbrouwer, "it's also the ecstasy capital of Europe and
that's something that really worries the Dutch and gives rise to public
revulsion."

Is the sleaze -- the noise, the smell and the cat-and-mouse presence of
organized crime -- engendered by smoking coffee shops worth it? Ultimately
most Dutch seem to feel it is, though they are troubled by it and are the
first to see its flaws. Kurt van Es of Het Parool cautions, however, that
"The most disturbing thing for neighbors living around coffee shops is young
people gathering outside, parking their cars or leaving the engine running
to dash in and buy their stuff then go away again. But if you live near
normal bars and pubs you have similar problems and I don't know whether you
can say this is specific to coffee shops."

One key argument against the Dutch has long been that their policies are too
culture-specific to be exported. However, after decades of resistance, the
rest of the E.U. is now reluctantly adopting some elements of the
Netherlands' drug policies, though each country's approach differs widely.

The EMCDDA remarks that Denmark does not prosecute for possession or supply
of small quantities of cannabis, and gives users "warning" for "drugs other
than cannabis." Imprisonment is reserved for offenses "involving supply for
commercial reasons or organized trafficking."

Frank Kuitenbrower suggests that decades ago the Danes actually applied a
similar "separation of hard and soft, but they didn't preach about it,
whereas we Dutch had to make noise and use 'the lifted finger' to tell
everyone that what we were doing was right. That's why we were reviled by
the French and Germans in particular. Yet the Germans have now largely
adopted the Dutch policy in big cities."

EMCDDA data confirm that Germany no longer prosecutes for use, import,
export or possession of "insignificant quantities" of drugs; ditto Austria
and Luxembourg. Ireland now levies fines for cannabis use. Sweden fines or
requests users to seek counseling. In the United Kingdom, proceedings are
often dropped for "possession of small quantities, occasional or personal
use."

Spain and Italy apply "administrative sanctions" (fines, suspension of
driver's license, etc.) for personal use -- de facto decriminalization.
"There are laws under consideration to totally decriminalize drugs," says
Dr. Silvia Zanone, an Italian drug policy consultant at the Social Affairs
Ministry's Prevention and Rehabilitation Activities Coordination Unit in
Rome.

Zanone, acknowledging Dutch influences on Italy, adds "there have been calls
for the creation of something like the coffee shops. If drug use is
completely decriminalized then logically there must be a legal way for
people to get them other than the illegal trade in drugs. But all of these
proposals have been held up for years in parliament."

In France "occasional users of illicit drugs" are now warned or referred to
health or social care services. Michel Bouchet, head of the French Interior
Ministry's Anti-Drug Commission, confirms that "the use of all drugs is
illegal in France but that does not mean you'll waste away in prison if you
take them."

He adds, however, that France rejects the notion of toleration or separating
drugs into hard/soft, and is in opposition to most Dutch policies. "I do not
think there are 'soft' or 'hard' drugs. It's difficult for there to be 'soft
use' of hard drugs, and it's certain there is hard use of soft drugs." As
the French government pushes citizens to stop smoking cigarettes and reduce
drinking, fears of Dutch-style liberalization are compounded by perceived
risks of increased domestic multiple-drug abuse (tobacco and alcohol plus
narcotics), as well as higher synthetic-drug consumption.

It's tempting to wonder whether features of Dutch drug policy --
decriminalization of use combined with rehabilitation -- could work in
America. Detractors point out that America's Puritan heritage makes it
unlikely, an argument that, if it ever made sense, becomes steadily less
compelling as the U.S. goes global, multiethnic and multicultural.

Consider the Dutch: like Americans, they're always ready to "raise the
finger" and preach; their roots are in Calvinism, a Puritanical form of
Protestantism. Ask the Dutch what country theirs most resembles and the
overwhelming response is America. Holland, like America, is a dynamic,
high-tech driven multiethnic hodgepodge of some 145 nationalities (nearly
half Amsterdam's population is of non-Dutch origin). Certainly, the
Netherlands resembles America more than it does Italy or Spain (Catholic
cultures with millennial traditions) yet even these hidebound societies have
moved toward liberalization.

"We need to provide alternatives to incarceration for first-time non-violent
drug offenders, and others who are non-violent offenders a second time, who
don't sell to kids and who aren't using weapons," admits Housman of the
ONDCP, citing the Clinton administration's multibillion-dollar anti-drug
education and rehabilitation campaigns. "We absolutely agree that we need to
refocus the efforts of the criminal justice system with respect to drugs."

But while Congress and American law enforcement agencies contemplate whether
to pursue the war on drugs or to emphasize decriminalization and
rehabilitation, the Netherlands' smoking coffee shops will continue to fill
with curious Americans. As a proud proprietor once told me, "Americans are
some of our best customers."