Making
drug use a crime is no guarantee that there will
be fewer drug users, an envoy said. "By making
something taboo, you make it more attractive,"
said Dutch ambassador to the Philippines, Richard
Brinks, in an exclusive roundtable interview with
The Manila Times recently. "Repressive policies
just make people more curious." To stress
his point, he said last year there were around
17,000 drug users in The Netherlands, country
known for its permissive attitude toward the so-called
soft drugs. Despite the easy availability of marijuana,
hashish and other "mild" drugs in coffee
shops, drug related crime is almost unheard off.
Making these substances available--and legal--eliminates
the need for addicts to steal or perpetrate crimes
to support their drug habits, Brinks explained.
The Dutch government draws the line on "hard
drugs," though, he added. An establishment
found selling hard drugs immediately loses its
license, as the government keeps a tight watch
over those shops. "There is a zero tolerance
policy for hard drugs," Brinks said. "It
is hard drugs and hard drug users that present
a danger to public security, that we spend money
to ensure through the legal system are kept off
the street." In The Netherlands, soft drug
users are considered not as criminals but as patients
with health problems, the envoy said. Drug users
are not so different from cigarette smokers or
consumers of alcoholic drinks, and like chain
smokers or alcoholics, those who abuse drugs are
offered medical treatment by the Dutch government.
The authorities there keep tabs on the soft drug
users in the country and offer them health services,
including clean needles and paying for anti-addiction
treatments for those who want to kick the habit.
"I am proud of our drug policy," Brinks
said. "Why pay through the nose to put soft
drug users in prison? They don't present a danger
to public security. Let's concentrate on the hard-drug
users." Despite the openness about drug use,
the ambassador told The Times that the number
of users and of coffee houses selling soft drugs
in the country are actually ecreasing. Plus, there
are very few recorded deaths by overdose, with
only 30 victims last year. Most of those who died
of overdose were not Dutch, rather foreigners
who were likely overwhelmed by The Netherlands'
liberal society. "I think one reason why
we have less drug users and also less drug-related
deaths is because the Dutch are very well informed
about drug use," Brinks said. "No one
ODs [overdoses] by accident, because they know
how to use drugs safely." Drug education
is part of the public-education system in The
Netherlands. Children are taught about the variety
of drugs they might see on the streets and their
effects on the mind and body. "If you hide
it away, you just make them more curious,"
Brinks explained, referring to hildren. "The
possibilities that they're going to experiment
are great anyway, but at least this way they don't
do it recklessly in a back alley somewhere."
"And we don't make it glamorous," he
added. "We don't have a stuffy official from
the Health Department giving a lecture. We get
a dealer from the street to visit the public classrooms
to show everything they have and explain what
they're supposed to do and how you're supposed
to use it." The "scruffy guy from the
street" allegedly has a de-glamorizing effect
on drug use as it shows the children how they
could end up, the envoy said. "It's like
showing pictures of diseased lungs to a smoker,"
Brinks said. "We're just teaching them what
the risks are, because they're going to experiment
anyhow. We want to make sure the number of deaths
is zero."
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