[dangus]

People who argue for the legalization of marijuana in the Netherlands often point to statistics saying drug consumption has not gone up that much, and is not that much higher than in other EU countries. In fact, it is lower than in Spain or France. But this doesn’t show the whole story.

The Netherlands spend 139 Euros per capita per year on drug treatment programs. Spain spends 9. Greece spends 2. The country which, after the Netherlands, spends the most on drug treatment and regulation is Sweden, which consumes about 1/5th the amount of drugs that the Netherlands does. The Netherlands’ expenditure in a nation the size of the United States would translate to one hundred and fifty billion dollars. (Data is from a 2006 report, based on 2004 data.)

Also of note: the consumption of drugs other than marijuana has risen sharply in the Netherlands.

So, drug use in the Netherlands is still funding crime, still causing political corruption, still involving marijuana users in criminal activity... and still serving as a gateway drug to harder drugs.

[fr_freak]

The Netherlands’ expenditure in a nation the size of the United States would translate to one hundred and fifty billion dollars. (Data is from a 2006 report, based on 2004 data.)

Also of note: the consumption of drugs other than marijuana has risen sharply in the Netherlands.

You are overlooking a couple of things. First, $150 billion spent in rehab programs would be a drop in the bucket next to the current expenditure on drug enforcement and incarceration for non-violent marijuana offenses AND for existing drug rehab programs, even if we were to assume that the Netherlands model would translate perfectly to the US.

More importantly, however, you forget that when the Netherlands decriminalized pot and a couple of other drugs, it became the only European region to do so, and therefore became the number one destination for those who wish to do drugs. Any associated increase in reported drug usage or crime cannot be divorced from that fact. It's kind of like San Francisco, when they decided to make themselves a haven for the homeless, they got more homeless and the associated pathologies. Well, the Netherlands got the druggies from the EU and beyond.

California, of course, would be in a similar situation, since the other 49 states would still have marijuana illegal, but I think we can safely say that California has already drawn to itself pretty much all of the commies and assorted freaks from the rest of the country, so I'm not sure there'd be many more left to come over. However, of greater concern to California is something that the Netherlands doesn't have: a corrupt narco-state next door which runs a vast drug pipeline through the heart of the state on the backs of the huge tidal wave of illegal immigrants. In such a circumstance, limiting the earning potential of these gangs by taking their main cash crop off of the black market would seem like a very logical thing to do.

[Ken H]

The Netherlands has a very low crime rate compared to the US. For murder, rape and assault, the differences are staggering. We have 3 to 4 times the rate of those crimes vs the Dutch.*

BTW, the murder rate for Amsterdam is comparable to the safest cities in the US.

*nationmaster.com