New Research Points to Lessons from Dutch Cannabis Policy

[RainDog]

http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/09/13/lessons-from-dutch-cannabis-system/

Robert J. MacCoun, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and the UC Berkeley School of Law, said that the well-documented Dutch experience with marijuana shops may provide important information for other jurisdictions wrestling with how to deal with cannabis.

Findings include:

Dutch citizens use cannabis at more modest rates than many of their European neighbors.

Dutch youth report high rates of availability of cannabis, but not as elevated as reported rates in the United States and several other countries.

The Dutch “continuation” rate for using marijuana from a causal experimentation in youth to regular usage in adulthood (ages 15-34) is fairly modest by international standards

Past-year cannabis use among Dutch 15-to-24-year-olds dropped from 14.3 to 11.4 percent between 1997 and 2005.

Dutch cannabis users are more likely to be admitted for substance abuse treatment than their counterparts in most European countries, while the United States reports four marijuana treatment admissions for every one admission in the Netherlands. It is not clear whether this reflects a greater investment in treatment by Dutch officials, or the higher potency of Dutch marijuana.

In the United States, about half of those admitted for treatment for marijuana addiction happen through criminal justice referrals. In the Netherlands, such referrals account for closer to 10 percent.

full journal article here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03572.x/abstract

[patrice]

1. K&R

[RainDog]

2. adding the link to the Rand report on no increase in crime at dispensaries

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1996841&mesg_id=1996841

[Shagbark Hickory]

3. Well I don't think they want fewer people using it. There's big $ in the war on DRUG$

[RainDog]

4. the Dutch have kept prices high by not legalizing growing

personally, I think it makes sense to make it legal to grow, too, and keep prices elevated by taxation that can be returned to the states in which cannabis is sold.

[Scuba]

6. Bingo.

[Shagbark Hickory]

7. They haven't legalized posession or using it either.

If you want to get technical.

And last I heard, they were cracking down on the coffee shops because they were tired of being a destination for international potheads. I don't know whatever happened with that.

[RainDog]

9. true. they've had a policy of benign neglect to enforce the law

that way, if this was a problem, they didn't require as much to change it.

and, yes, the conservatives in The Netherlands that are making great headway because of the murder of Theo Van Gogh are working to make the cafes for Dutch citizens only because of some people from other countries who come there - not all of them are a problem, of course. the complaints have been in places like Maastricht, which is on the border of Belgium, France and Germany.

the reality is that the other nations need to deal with this issue themselves, as well, but they have their lobbies, too (wine in France, beer in Belgium, etc.)

but the reality is that this study indicates that treating cannabis as de facto legal has not hurt that society. This is after decades of this policy. That's the real issue here - evidence that discounts the claims of drug warriors.

[Shagbark Hickory]

11. If you want to see it legalized here then you know what has to be done.

[demigoddess]

8. exactly right.

looking forward to the day that the US gets a clue.

[RainDog]

14. it seems that what has to be done is to reach critical mass at the level of state law

...by passing laws that allow medical marijuana - about 1/3 of the states have done that now and have faced opposition to enforcement of this law every time...

and to create bipartisan bills to address the issue of scheduling and legality (which has been done - and one Rep. has vowed to keep this from going forward - so I guess, in that case, people need to use this information, that he is willfully obstructing a hearing on a law because he is a little dictator, and vote him out of office (he's in Austin, surely Austin can do this.)

and to advocate for changes in the law, to advocate for protection at the state level for those who are not in violation of state law - and this is happening via organizations and legal entities...

and people need to speak up and educate Americans about the reality of cannabis as a plant and the reality that our elected officials are lying about this plant daily... and that's happening.

So, what else would you say needs to happen for our nation's "leadership" to get its head out of its ass on this issue?

[Trillo]

5. This is reminiscent of a study I read many years ago on the internet regarding alcohol use

The link is unknown, but what I recall is that in countries where minors drinking alcohol with adult supervision is allowed, there are fewer binge drinking incidents.

[RainDog]

10. In some European countries, drinking is legal at 16

and they have clubs that are just for high school-age students.

All of the teenagers in my ex's family would go to these clubs - and none of them are problem drinkers. All of them have jobs. Some have PhDs. They all tried cannabis, too.

The zero tolerance that stems from our Puritan heritage just sets up situations in which the "forbidden fruit" is that much more interesting simply b/c it's forbidden. Some people like that, I suppose, because of the little frisson of "bad" they get when they do the things they would do anyway.

But some would just like to avoid social problems that come from an attitude that treats normal behavior as a crime or sin.

[bemildred]

12. So, it sounds like harm reduction works. nt

[RainDog]

15. that seems to be the lesson from The Netherlands and Portugal

I guess if you want a violent and punitive society, however, our current policies are just the thing.

[bemildred]

16. Violent, punitive, very expensive, and leading to social disintegration.

And our so called "leaders" just love it.

[War Horse]

13. "Dutch citizens use cannabis at more modest rates

than many of their European neighbors."

Sure looks that way to me, from personal experience, FWIW.