ENCOD BULLETIN ON DRUG POLICIES IN EUROPE

JULY 2014

Cannabis Liberation Day in Amsterdam: The law of the handicap of a head start

Activists, companies and cannabis consumers and growers from all over Europe gathered in Amsterdam on June 15th, to celebrate Cannabis Liberation Day, the annual free festival organized by the VOC (Union for the abolition of cannabis prohibition). Dutch cannabis policy continues to suffer from ‘The law of the handicap of a head start’.

The sixth edition of ‘Cannabis Bevrijdingsdag’ took place at a new location, Amsterdam’s delightful Flevopark and drew visitors from Belgium, Germany, the UK, Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Italy and even Dubai. There was much talk about the demise of the once tolerant and pragmatic Dutch cannabis policy. Over the last fifteen years things have gone from bad to worse, with a steady decrease of the number of coffeeshops from over 1500 in the nineties to around 600 today and repressive measures like the ‘weed pass’ and the proposed 15% thc maximum for cannabis.

Why is it that a country that is (in)famous the world over for its liberal cannabis policy has adopted a zero tolerance, war on drugs style approach, just as the rest of the world is moving towards liberalization?

The answer may lie in ‘The law of the handicap of a head start’, coined by Dutch historian Jan Romein in 1937. One of the examples Romein uses to explain this law are the street lights in London, one of the first cities in the world to introduce large scale street lighting. Electricity had not yet been invented, so the London street lights worked on gas.

By the time other cities followed suit, electricity was readily available, so these cities installed electric street lights from the start. London’s head start turned out to be a handicap when it came to modernizing their system.

It’s a striking analogy to what has happened to Dutch cannabis policy over the last fifteen years. In 1976, the Netherlands was the first country in the world to decriminalize use and possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use. To make this possible, a separation between cannabis products and other illegal drugs was introduced in the ‘Opiumwet’ (Opium Law, dealing with all illegal drugs).

This legal separation went hand in hand with a separation of drug markets. The goal was -and still is- to create a situation where people who want to buy cannabis can do so in a safe environment, where they are not exposed to other illegal drugs with greater health risks, such as heroin and cocain.

To debunk a common misconception, still spread by today’s government: coffeeshops were never ‘planned’ by the authorities. Early police guidelines were aimed at so called ‘house dealers’, operating in subsidized youth centers like Paradiso and De Melkweg. It’s only thanks to smart entrepreneurs that the coffeeshop as we know it today came into existence. This was more in spite of than thanks to the governments of the time.

Fast forward to 2014. The world has changed quite dramatically. Gone are the days that Holland was the only country with a liberal cannabis policy. The list of states that have decriminalized or legalized cannabis seems to grow every month: Uruguay, Denver, Washington State, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, the Czech Republic… While we’re still struggling with gas powered street lights, these countries have chosen far more practical solutions.

The government’s proposal to limit the amount of thc in cannabis sold at coffeeshops to 15% seems to be the lowest point yet in the decline of Dutch policy. The fundamental separation between cannabis on the one hand and drugs like heroin and crack on the other will be given up if the government gets its way. Any weed or hash containing over 15% thc will be considered a hard drug. Coffeeshops offering ‘strong cannabis’ will be closed down because of supplying ‘hard drugs’. Peaceful cannabis growers can be persecuted like producers of meth and heroin.

The VOC is working hard to convince members of parliament that this measure is as dangerous as it is absurd. The very foundation of modern Dutch drug policy is at stake.

To make matters worse: the ‘Raad van State’, an important advisory council of the government on legal affairs, gave it’s thumbs up to the tourist ban for coffeeshops in a long awaited verdict, published on June 18th. The council declared that banning non Dutch residents from coffeeshops is a form of discrimination, but is nevertheless allowed to combat the evil of ‘drug tourism’.

Dutch minister of justice Ivo Opstelten has always maintained that ‘eventually’ all coffeeshops will have to ban non residents, including those in Amsterdam. At this moment however, only about 15% of all Dutch coffeeshops -those in the three Southern provinces- are forced to ban non residents. This ‘North-South divide’ seems contrary to a credible and consistent national policy. That pretty much sums up the Dutch cannabis policy in the 21st century: the opposite of credible and consistent.

The good news is that the Law of the handicap of a head start no longer applies to the Netherlands. Barcelona has over 250 Cannabis Social Clubs, while Amsterdam only has 200 coffeeshops. Uruguay has legalized cannabis on a national level. We have been overtaken, the head start is gone for good. And these days, the street lights in London are powered by electricity, aren’t they?

By Derrick Bergman

NEWS FROM THE SECRETARIAT

Every Encod member is warmly invited to attend the General Assembly in Goricko, Slovenia, from 26 to 28 September. Please register before 1 September if you wish to be sure you can benefit from the accomodation and travel arrangements.

Photos by Gonzomedia

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