US DC: OPED: If It's On the Shelves, It's Off the Streets
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition's (LEAP) Peter Moskos in the Washington Post:
(registration req'd, it is free) US DC: OPED: If It's On the Shelves, It's Off the Streets
The smoking ban does not apply to marijuana, but Dutch who smoke it almost always mix it with tobacco. So while the pot is still okay, the tobacco in the joint isn't. Larger coffee shops have built walls and separate smoking rooms. Smaller shops make people smoke outside or hope the authorities will simply tolerate a little illegal tobacco along with the marijuana.
The Dutch classify marijuana as a "soft drug," which means that, like alcohol and tobacco, it is best regulated through controlled distribution. "Hard drugs," such as cocaine and heroin, remain illegal. But personal drug use is more a health matter than an arrestable offense.
Even the Amsterdam police want to keep the coffee shops open. "Why push drug use underground?" asked Christian Koers, the police chief responsible for Amesterdam's red-light district. "Then you cannot control it, and it becomes more popular and more dangerous. "
This is a well done piece, I highly (!) recommend you go and read it all. When a link becomes available at MAP's DrugNews library, I'll post it here.
More from Peter's Oped:
As a police officer, I responded when citizens called 911 to report drug dealing. Those calls didn't tell me much, though, because I already knew the drug corners. And what could I do? When a police car pulls up to a drug corner, the corner pulls back. Dealers, friends, addicts and lookouts walk slowly away.
I didn't chase them. If I did, they'd ditch the drugs. What would I do if I caught them? Charge them with felony running? A smart dealer doesn't hold drugs and money and guns. He's got workers for that. Besides, an anonymous call to police doesn't give the legal "probable cause" needed for a search. So I'd walk up, perhaps frisk for weapons and stand there until "my" corner was clear.
But soon enough I'd have to answer another 911 call for drugs. And when I left, the crew would reconvene. One of my partners put it succinctly: "We can't do anything. Drugs were here before I was born, and they're going to be here after I die. All they pay us to do is herd junkies."
Whose drug policies are keeping the streets safer?
For years, American prohibitionists have claimed — falsely — that the tolerant marijuana policies of the Netherlands have made that nation a nest of crime and drug abuse. They may have trouble wrapping their little brains around the following:
Back in May, the Dutch government was busy trying to do a deal with the Belgian government in an attempt to avoid closing eight prisons, because they don’t have enough criminals themselves to fill them. Officials attribute the shortage of prisoners to a constant declining crime rate.
Just for fun, let’s compare the Netherlands to California. With a population of 16.6 million, the Dutch prison population is about 12,000. With its population of 36.7 million, California should have a bit more than double the Dutch prison population. California’s actual prison population is 171,000. That's six times more!
So, whose drug policies are keeping the streets safer?
actually Malcolm...
... that's almost 15 times more!
Didjoo get a calendar ordered yet?!?
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welcome to the world I see...
Morning Donut
AE's 2010 Calendar
oooops again; my bad!
I guess I was sub-consciously trying to be kind to those poor prohibitionists; it's been such a bad year for them again
There's no cash left; I'm afraid Ellen blew it all on a new camper.
There is no such thing as a soft drug
Especially one as insidious as marihuana! It's foul tentacles reach out from the depths of hell...ensnaring those fooled by popular culture...the vile lyrics of rap ...of rock and roll...and jazz...deceiving them/tricking them into wrongly believing marihuana is harmless. It is not! Once hooked there is little hope for them beyond incarceration...they need to be locked up for there own good...to protect the children. Once addicted...something that can happen with just one use...they think of nothing else...there lives revolve around this despicable weed! When the Netherlands legalized this foul affront to humanity, teen use tripled! It lead them on to harder drugs...meth, cocaine, ecstasy, and heroin...killing thousands of youth...striking them down before there potential could be realized. The reason why they are closing prisons is because of the massive number of overdoses and suicides...they are running out of crimenals through attrition! The cost in human lives lost is staggering, this is not a mistake we need to repeat here!
I know I'm a locksmith. Think of the children!
Locknest. Did you know not to long ago in the United States
a person would get fined for not growing cannabis?
Thank God
they can now be imprisoned for growing it!
I know I'm a locksmith. Think of the children!
My bad. I forgot about how much it would cut down on
Home Invasions, robbery and the like.
Do you have any current statistics on Cannabis/crime, Locksmith?
Where did you get this nonsense JR?
"The reason why they are closing prisons is because of the massive number of overdoses and suicides"
I know I'm asking the impossible, but could you back this up with some evidence please?