Netherlands to classify high-potency cannabis as hard drug

[OldSkoolKlein]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/07/netherlands-potency-cannabis-hard-drug?CMP=twt_gu

 

 

Associated Press

guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 October 2011 18.43 BST

 

 

The Dutch government has said it will move to classify high-potency cannabis alongside hard drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy, the latest step in the country's ongoing reversal of its liberal policies.

 

The decision means most of the cannabis now sold in Dutch coffee shops would have to be replaced by milder variants. But sceptics said the move would be difficult to enforce, and that it could simply lead many users to smoke more of the less potent weed.

 

Possession of cannabis is technically illegal in the Netherlands, but police do not prosecute people for possession of small amounts, and it is sold openly in designated cafes. Growers are routinely prosecuted if caught.

 

Maxime Verhagen, the economic affairs minister, said cannabis containing more than 15% of its main active chemical, THC, is so much stronger than what was common a generation ago that it should be considered a different drug entirely.

 

The high potency cannabis has "played a role in increasing public health damage", he said at a press conference in The Hague.

 

The cabinet has not said when it will begin enforcing the rule.

 

Jeffrey Parsons, a psychologist at Hunter College in New York, who studies addiction, said the policy may not have the benefits the government is hoping for.

 

"If it encourages smoking an increased amount of low-concentration THC weed, it is likely to actually cause more harm than good," he said, citing the potential lung damage and cancer-causing effects of extra inhalation.

 

The Dutch justice ministry said it was up to cafes to regulate their own products and police will seize random samples for testing.

 

But Gerrit-Jan ten Bloomendal, spokesman for the Platform of Cannabis Businesses in the Netherlands, said implementing the plan would be difficult "if not impossible".

 

"How are we going to know whether a given batch exceeds 15% THC? For that matter, how would health inspectors know?" he said. He predicted a black market will develop for highly potent cannabis.

 

The ongoing Dutch crackdown on cannabis is part of a decade-long rethink of liberalism in general that has seen a third of the windows in Amsterdam's red light district closed and led the Netherlands to adopt some of the toughest immigration rules in Europe.

 

The number of licensed coffee houses has been reduced, and earlier this year the government announced plans to ban tourists from buying cannabis. That has been resisted by the city of Amsterdam, where the cafes selling cannabis are a major tourist draw.

Edited October 8, 2011 by OldSkoolKlein

[everest]

no chance

 

its about time the dutch shut up hey ...

 

ev

[Frazz]

this has been a trouble that comes from one country or state that de-criminalise or become soft on Cannabis Prohibition and allows general use and sale of Cannabis

 

the trouble is the surrounding states/countries all start complaining about various issues, some of those issues are

 

'our citizens are going across the border to buy Cannabis and return to our country with Cannabis, where we are trying to enforce Prohibition'

 

'our citizens are taking hundreds of thousands of $ out of our local economy and spending it the neighboring country'

 

pressure is brought to bear on any country/government that chooses to liberalise Prohibition .. even from within

as the Dutch Govt. has to weigh up the benefits of Canna-tourisim against the cost of extra Police work arising from relaxed Prohibition

 

Once the Yanks used to coerce countries into enforcing Prohibition, until recently where foreign ppl/countries are sick to death of america having one law for everyone else and telling everyone else what they should be doing

yet making allowances within their own country for a ridiculous ham-fisted approach to Prohibition which sees widely varying different interpretations throughout 50-odd States, of allowing the production and sale of Cannabis under an umbrella of so called "Medical Cannabis"

 

this approach by America is untenable, it cannot continue this way

 

Mexico who has a long land-border with America is by far and away the biggest supplier of America's voracious appetite for illicit drugs

this costs America millions of $ trying to prevent the flow of drugs in their country and the criminality that stems from a Black market ... yet America is now experiencing the biggest national debt crisis in its history

not to mention the latest figures which estimate ten-thousand Mexicans killed in 2010 in drug gang/turf wars ...

and 40,000 people dead over the last ten years! .. all as a result of failed Drug Prohibition Laws/Policies

 

 

We Aussies have to look no further than South Australia to see our own example of de-criminalised Cannabis laws which ended in tears and much finger-pointing

 

Initially S.A. passed a relaxed law whereby a citizen was allowed to grow up to 10 plants for their personal use and if caught doing so was issued a $175- on the spot fine! ... in anyones terms 10 plants is over and beyond what is personel

 

Organised criminals could not pass up this opportunity to cash in on commodity which was prohibited in all other states and promptly began organising the flow of Cannabis into all other states

soon a thriving trade grew where older burntout hippies started cottage industries growing Cannabis in their homes, young working pple had dedicated crops of Cannabis every year which enabled them to pay of their new house purchases in record time, hydroponic shops popped up everywhere like the proverbial corner Delicatessen

 

NSW , Victorians , Qld the whole lot of them would travel to SA to make purchases of Cannabis and return home to re-sell @ a handsome profit

Motorcycle Clubs soon moved in to organise and control the distribution side of things, they had 'buyers' who travelled around the suburbs buying up as much Cannabis they could lay their hands on

young ppl were recruited to drive specially 'loaded' vehicles from SA to neighbouring states, loaded with pounds of Cannabis, as i recall the going price was about 2-3 thousand dollars per trip to drive a car there and back

 

Come time of the annual Australian State Heads of Government Meetings where all State Premiers and Treasures met with the Federal Govt. Ministers

well didnt the South Aussie politicians cop it!.. their state conterparts where screaming about SA's new found reputation as the production hub of an evil drug haven producing illicit drugs and exporting them Australia wide

while at the same time 'milking' millions of dollars revenue from these other neighbouring states

 

it couldn't last and was doomed to failure .. the policy was not thought out at all before implementation

today we see the revised South Aust. Prohibition laws as harsh as any other in the country ...

 

will be interesting to see where the Dutch end up on this issue of de-criminalisation or re-criminalisation

 

Edited October 10, 2011 by Frazz
accuracy of mex. deaths

[paddy1]

I was initially a bit confused about the whole weed thing in Amsterdam. When I smoked it, it seemed to be just as strong as good weed in Adelaide or Melbourne. Then I travelled to America and after buying and smoking a lot of average & extremely dried out, over-priced weed there, I saw why it was such an attraction for them.

 

I got over the 'fun' of smoking in a coffee shop and buying over the counter pretty quickly and found that other places in Europe had weed fairly available, reasonably priced and pretty good quality. It seemed everywhere in Europe has a somewhat liberal policy towards it, with the exception of a couple of places. In the end, Amsterdam struck me as a place for idiot stoned yanks, ferral whores, disgraceful sex shops, extremely dodgy characters all over the place and simply disgusting food. On this last point, it really seemed like food designed for stoned yanks - massive pizza slices, pulp fiction's fries with mayo, big cream cakey things and it all tasted like .... nothing! Finally, Amsterdam was expensive. Accommodation was expensive, food was expensive, weed was nothing cheap, going out was expensive. Almost on par with Paris! Just didn't float my boat and would be happy to never set foot in there again. That said, parts of it were beautiful to look at - lovely canals and buildings.

Edited October 9, 2011 by paddy1

[buzzo]

Well written Frazz. You are right on the money buddy.

[Tsigle]

I think it was the lack of regulation that did SA under. And it was keeping it illegal in Australia as a whole that caused it to fail. If it was legal it would be regulated. But since it's not like that then regulation has nowhere to start.