THE DUTCH ARE NOT DRUG-CRAZED

In response to your May 9 editorial "Drive-Thru Highs": While I don't
necessarily agree with the drive-thru pot shops, the attack on the Dutch
policy on "soft" drugs is uncalled for. The 250% increase in adolescent
marijuana use was expected and very temporary. Currently very few Dutch
citizens use marijuana. The figure is about 5%, which is less than in the
U.S. and France, countries with fairly Draconian drug laws. The "dealers
peddling harder drugs, burglars, prostitutes, pimps and violent criminals"
were all there before the liberalization of the drug laws, just as they
exist now (in larger numbers) in countries with much tougher drug laws such
as Germany and the U.S.

In addition, the social problems of "heroin addiction, property crime,
gun-related deaths, organized criminal activity, and the consequent need
for one of the largest police forces in the world" are all much less severe
than in the U.S. and other countries.

When I was in Amsterdam during my recent trip, I was exposed to tear-gas
from a riot at Centaal Station. What was the drug that contributed to the
violence? Alcohol. Not marijuana. Why don't you suggest that alcohol be
made illegal? Because it was tried in the U.S. and was a dismal failure,
just as our current drug policy is equally a dismal failure. The fact is,
the Netherlands is a country that works very well. It has a very high
standard of living, a strong and diverse economy, excellent schools and a
happy, healthy populace that although diverse, generally gets along very
well with each another. This is because, not in spite of, the notion of
tolerance that is so prevalent in the Netherlands and leads to more
enlightened social policy like the one on "soft" drugs.

Mark Brownstein, Chicago

You may want to know that Holland is already the land of drive-thru
prostitution. Fenced off areas with bus-stop like shelters for street
walkers and semi-private car ports for "business." Clients drive up, pick
up a prostitute, drive to the car port, transact their exchange, drop off
prostitute, drive away. Not a very good model for intoxicants. Of course
that's true in the U.S., too, where we find drive-thru liquor stores.

David W. Holmes, Alexandria, Va.

You claim "vast increases in heroin addiction, property crime, gun-related
deaths, organized criminal activity, and the consequent need for one of the
largest police forces in the world" following the Netherlands' replacement
of marijuana prohibition with regulation. In reality, despite significantly
lower per-capita spending on drugs, the homicide rate in the Netherlands is
1.2 per 100,000, as opposed to 8.2 in the U.S. America now operates the
largest prison system in the world, in large part due to the never-ending
drug war. The punitive Nanny State does not come cheap, nor does it protect
children from drugs.

The thriving black market in the U.S. has no age controls that work to keep
drugs out of the hands of children. Dutch rates of drug use are
significantly lower than U.S. rates in every category. Separating the hard
and soft drug markets and establishing age controls for marijuana has
proven more effective than zero tolerance.

The average age of heroin users in the Netherlands goes up every year.
Meanwhile, here in the U.S. heroin use among high school seniors has
reached record levels. Illegal marijuana provides the black market contacts
that introduce youth to drugs like heroin. U.S. drug policy is a gateway
policy. Taxing and regulating marijuana is a cost-effective alternative to
spending billions annually on a failed drug war.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Lindesmith Center Drug Policy Foundation,
Washington