HOLLAND NOT FAILING

In your editorial (ST 20/6) on the Cafe Amsterdam you suggest Holland's
policy of making a distinction between soft and hard drugs has failed and
that the fight against hard drugs has been given up.

Nothing is further from the truth. Heroin use in the Netherlands, as a
proportion of the over 14 population who have ever tried it, is 0.3 per
cent. This is a very modest figure compared to countries such as the US and
Australia. Even more importantly, recent statistics show the population of
hard drug users is rather stable and rapidly ageing. In other words, few new
users are joining in.

Our policy on cannabis has not led to an increase in the number of hard-drug
users and on the basis of the Dutch experience, the so-called stepping stone
hypothesis cannot be confirmed.

Equally misleading is the impression you try to convey that the Dutch
authorities take a lax attitude toward the trade in hard drugs. On the
contrary, police and customs authorities commit large resources to the fight
against drug trafficking and with satisfying results.

ALBERT J.A.M. NOOIJ, Ambassador of the Netherlands