Posted on 06/28/2011 4:10:38 PM PDT by AustralianConservative
Okay. So it’s too late for some fried brains – but better late than never. From Reuters:
Now, a Dutch commission has found that hashish and marijuana on sale in the Netherlands contain around 18 percent of THC, the main psychoactive substance, and advised the health minister that anything above 15 percent put drugs on a par with heroin or cocaine.
“I've been very worried for years about the THC concentration, especially if it is so high. We will take a serious look at it," Health Minister Edith Schippers told public broadcaster NOS.
“The addictive consequences are much stronger and severe. Clearly this is a worrying development.”
When asked if tolerant soft drugs policies would end if some cannabis was labeled as a hard drug, she said: “The THC concentration fluctuates widely so the 15 percent level is not common. You'd have to look at how to change this development.”
Utopianism disappoints. Decades earlier, the Dutch experiment was sold uncritically as progressive, and the way of the future. In recent years, however, so-called soft drugs have been restricted on health and crime grounds, because attacks on family businesses and medical costs are costly, as conservatives predicted.
Some background. Here’s Larry Collins in Foreign Affairs (May/June 1999):
As the coffee shops boomed between 1984 and 1996, marijuana use among Dutch youths aged 18 to 25 leapt by well over 200 percent. In 1997, there was a 25 percent increase in the number of registered cannabis addicts receiving treatment for their habit, as compared to a mere 3 percent rise in cases of alcohol abuse. In 1995, public Ministry of Justice studies estimated that 700,000 to 750,000 of Holland’s 15 million people – about 5 percent of the population – were regular cannabis users.
(Excerpt) Read more at weekendlibertarian.blogspot.com ...
In 1997, there was a 25 percent increase in the number of registered cannabis addicts receiving treatment for their habit, as compared to a mere 3 percent rise in cases of alcohol abuse.
Libertarian god of recreational drugs ping!
It would be nice if the article had quantified the increase in “attacks on family businesses.” I suspect that the real problem is simply the increased medical expenses the state has to pay. If that is the case then the problem is with the welfare state rather than the drug laws.
I wonder how the negative economic impact of legal canibus use compares to the cost (on a per captia basis) of the police state the US has created to combat drugs.
this thread will get good soon....popcorn....
“It would be nice if the article had quantified the increase in “attacks on family businesses.””
I’d guess more like shoplifting, vandalism, panhandling.
It’s a GUESS, no, I have no empirical evidence!
“Now, a Dutch commission has found that hashish and marijuana on sale in the Netherlands contain around 18 percent of THC, the main psychoactive substance, and advised the health minister that anything above 15 percent put drugs on a par with heroin or cocaine. “
At what percent does alcohol become on a par with heroin or cocaine?
“...anything above 15 percent put drugs on a par with heroin or cocaine.”
As someone who did a lot of stupid stuff in young adulthood, I found cocaine to be the mildest of the drugs, at least from a mental standpoint. You can certainly disguise it much more easily than marijuana. Acid was the worst of the drugs I tried. Never tried heroin.
Just as long as taxpayers don’t have to give them welfare, healthcare and fund their drugs as part of government “rehab”. Oh and that they are adults.
Barack, is that you?
Never tried heroin, never wanted to. Too many of my friends from my high school days did and most of them are dead these thirty years now. Me and acid became fast friends. Too fast. Had to give that up a long time ago. Don’t miss it.
As somebody that also walked on the edge a bit, I have to say that is, without a doubt, the most ridiculous assertion ever said, thought, or written.
I just never recall a pothead suffering a spontaneous bloody nose in a meeting, or flying into a sweaty incoherent rage, or having to excuse themselves to ride out heart palpitations, or turn into a mean bastard for no apparent reason and actually believe they are being charming, or crawl around on the floor looking for that last tiny bit that may have fallen, or be unable to speak because their throat was too numb, or show up for work on Monday not having slept since Thursday, or bankrupting themselves in a matter of weeks and turning to crime to get a fix, or have one big nostril, or...
Other than possible odor of smoke or glassy eyes, what noticeable symptom is there that somebody has been smoking pot? Strait people eat Doritos and lay around watching TV too.
So the cost of rehab versus the costs of police enforcement kind of equal out:?
“Ooooh people exercising freedom about what they close to ingest what a concept”
Freely? Are these the welfare-dependent drug addicts who “freely” clog up hospitals? What a concept.
Netherlands is your brain.
Congress is your brain on drugs.
My background is Dutch. Actually, the crime issue has been reported for some time and it would be impossible b/c of word limits, to document every rise, although I plan to post more crime related facts here at a later date, for those interested.
Even some posts in the New York Times concede this.
That said, you sound rational. The true believers are scared of facts. Juts an observation: In the name of “liberty” some American “libertarians” have a history of censoring crime statistics and siding with criminals over police, for theological reasons.
Drug liberalism costs more than a real war of drugs for sure (not that there is a real war on drugs in America). Some of your prisons look like hotels. Give me a budget and I’ll cut down prison expenses, Victorian-period style. And what’s with these open borders, soft sentences, and “therapy” for users? Good Lord.
Good question – although three wrongs never make a right. There’s a difference between alcohol use in moderation and alcohol abuse. With the other drugs, the brain chemistry issues are so dangerous, that even infrequent use can lead to mental illnesses.
“Drug liberalism costs more than a real war of drugs for sure”
That may indeed be the case, I posed the question because I truly don’t know the answer. For all the junk studies my government pays for, you would think someone would have looked at the numbers by now.
“So the cost of rehab versus the costs of police enforcement kind of equal out?”
That was my line of thinking, except to compare apples to apples the rehab clinic would have to kick in your door and shoot your dog. :-p
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