THE DRUG WAR

America is losing its allies in the drug war. Little by little, country by
country our allies are throwing in the towel.

Lets look at the first and foremost among the dropout countries. The Dutch.
The Dutch have been a bastion of tolerance and harm reduction for about
twenty-five years. How is it working for them? Not too badly as it turns
out. The average age of the heroin addict population is rising meaning that
new users are not being added to the user population at a rate to sustain
it at its current levels. Contrast this with the US of A where the average
age of the heroin using population is steady or falling.

How did the Dutch accomplish this feat? They de facto made marijuana legal,
there by separating marijuana users from hard drug pushers. Marijuana is
sold openly in coffee shops to anyone over 18. The most surprising result
of this policy is that last month marijuana use among Dutch high schoolers
is in the range of 20% while in America where there is officially no
source of supply the use is in the range of 30%. There is nothing like
forbidden fruit to attract teenagers.

The Swiss who are not a party to any of the international drug treaties are
planning to make cannabis totally legal for residents only in an efforts to
eliminate the drug tourists the Dutch have attracted. Of course the Dutch
answer to drug tourism is to set up a drive through cannabis shop so that
the tourist can leave for home immediately having deposited their cash with
the Dutch. Very sensible those Dutch.

Italy, Portugal, and Spain have all decriminalized drugs for users. This is
such a radical policy that both the Germans and French are considering it.
The main holdout on the continent are the Swedish . In Sweden the police
can arrest you and take you to the police station for a forced drug test if
they think your sniffling is caused by cocaine and not nasal drip.
Surprisingly addiction rates for hard drugs are rising in Sweden.

How are things in Britain? As usual the people are ahead of the politicians
on this one. In fact even the police are ahead of the politicians. The
Police Federation, the police officers union, has stated that arresting
people for marijuana is counterproductive. For a trial period of six months
there will be no marijuana use or possession charges in a section of
London. If the experiment by the Scotland Yard which is underway now proves
successful it is expected to be extended to the rest of the country.
Parliament is expected to debate the legalization of marijuana in the next
six months. Two thirds of Britons say marijuana should be the police's
lowest priority. Police in fact have given up chasing pot smugglers. If
they get lucky and find one there will be a prosecution, but looking for
pot has ceased. In effect the war on pot in the United Kingdom is over.

There is much more happening in the world. I will cover more of it next week.

What is happening close to home is a campaign to free EJ. Help if you can.

http://sites.netscape.net/ejpagel/freeej

M. L. Simon is an industrial controls designer and Libertarian activist