CITY MUST GO DUTCH TO WIN THE DRUGS WAR

ONE of Holland's top drug squad officers today told Scottish police they
should back plans to open Dutch-style cannabis cafes in Edinburgh.

Ton Snip, a Politie officer with more than ten years' experience of the
problem, claimed the cafes had resulted in a massive reduction in hard-drug
use and drug-related crime in Holland.

Edinburgh-based publisher Kevin Williamson has said he will open a cannabis
cafe at an undisclosed location in the city after Home Secretary David
Blunkett's plans to reclassify the drug as class C come into effect later
this year.

Ahead of his address to more than 200 delegates at a drugs conference
organised by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS)
in Dunblane today, Mr Snip said: "Our law is based on the health and
welfare of the users. In the Netherlands, decriminalisation has not led to
an increase in cannabis use.

"The fact that young people don't get a criminal record for using the drug
a few times is a very positive element of our policy. Police are able to
invest their capacity in more serious crimes.

"We don't have problems with young people buying cannabis in our coffee
shops. They don't steal or rob.

"We find the majority of them will try cannabis, experiment with it and
then get on with the rest of their lives."

Holland's use of cannabis cafes had halved hard-drug use in the country and
young people now saw heroin users as being "losers" in society, he said.

Education was the one crucial element in the success of "coffee houses" in
Holland, said Mr Snip, who also teaches drug courses with the
Zaanstreek-Waterland police force.

Mr Snip's comments to some of Scotland's top police officers, the Scottish
Drug Enforcement Agency's director, James Orr, and the Deputy Justice
Minister Dr Richard Simpson come just weeks after Lothian and Borders' new
chief constable, Paddy Tomkins, called for a more open debate about the use
of cannabis shortly after taking up his post. He said the rising death toll
caused by drugs in the UK was cause for concern and said it might be time
to review existing strategies.

Mr Snip said the coffee shops in Holland were controlled tightly by police
who carried out spot checks five or six times a year.

Any coffee shop owner who did not "live by the rules" was shut down. The
rules include only allowing over-18s in the cafes and an alcohol ban. He
dismissed claims that cannabis leads people to harder drugs such as heroin
and cocaine, saying: "That is not true."

Cocaine was the main concern for drugs police in his country, but he said
that the narcotic was becoming a worldwide problem due to falling prices.

In his opening speech to conference delegates, Dr Simpson said proposals in
the UK to downgrade cannabis to a class-C drug was not the same as
decriminalisation or legalisation.

"Possession and supply would remain criminal offences with maximum
penalties of two years' imprisonment for possession and five years for
supply," he said. "Realistic reclassification does not mean the UK
Government or the Scottish Executive is going soft on drugs."