DUTCH EXPERT WARNS: DO NOT GO SOFT ON DRUGS

A DUTCH anti drugs campaigner has warned Ireland against going soft on
substance abuse.

Dr Elizabeth de Marees Van Swinderen, from the Community Action in
Holland organisation, said the Netherlands is shifting away from
health concerns to nuisance reduction in its model of drugs tolerance.

Dutch laws protect the dealing of small amounts of cannabis and house
dealers of cannabis in youth centres, under the argument that drug use
can be controlled.

“The primary goal is no longer to stop addiction but how to make life
as easy as possible for the drug addict and keep him or her off the
streets. Several cities are eagerly waiting for permission to
distribute heroin, to decrease drug related public nuisance, rather
than decrease heroin use,” she said.

Dr Van Swinderen told the international Drug Policy Initiatives for
the 21st Century conference in Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, that no
drugs should be made available and there should be no experimental or
recreational use.

“To make us more willing to accept drug use, a misleading terminology
is used. People talk about recreational use, recreational substances,
harm reduction and risk management, for example, but drugs belong to
the domain of toxicology,” she said.

“One of the favourite arguments is that the existence of ‘coffee
shops’ is a good help to separate the markets for so called soft drugs
(cannabis products) and so called hard drugs, for example, heroin.
However, the separation is more wishful thinking than anything else,
and only works on paper, not in reality.

“The liberal conformist trail is now talking about local supply of
cannabis products to local coffee shops by licensed Dutch growers of
such products. Furthermore, the Government is considering a hemp
office for scientific medical research on marijuana.

“Hundreds of thousands of young people use ecstasy and other
amphetamine type drugs in discos or at house parties. The liberal view
that as a normal part of the youth culture. There are even
possibilities to test pills before or at parties, a practice that is
tolerated by the prosecutors, and there are no seizures of tablets for
private use,” she said.

Dr Van Swinderen said amended Dutch laws give mayors the possibility
of closing a coffee shop, but cities taking this option face legal
procedures.

She said Sweden has a special mission for Europe when it comes to drug
prevention and it is possible Ireland has the same mission,
remembering its role in bringing Christianity to Europe.

“I sincerely hope that your mission can awake in us the spirit of
resistance against this new tyranny, the scourge of drugs,” Dr Van
Swinderen said.