Members-only cannabis club won't pass the test


Published: 3 July 2009 10:33
Changed: 3 July 2009 17:05


The committee on drugs policy recommends making the coffee shops
members-only clubs, and experimenting with legal cannabis production.
Neither will pass the European test.


EDITORIAL


We can't go on like this, but where do we go from here? That has been
the miserable state of the Dutch policy on drugs for years. Supporters
of prohibition and tolerance have each other pinned down.

They know that the production of cannabis invites crime, that the
Netherlands has become a large-scale exporter of cannabis, that cannabis
consumption leads to children dropping out of school, and aggravates
social problems, and home-growing runs down neighbourhoods.

The once carefree subculture of soft drugs has become a tough business.
"It's a mess", Labour member of parliament Lea Bouwmeester said this
week as she introduced a last-minute proposal to legalise the production
of cannabis in an attempt to save the coffee shops.

True to custom, the government set up a commission in the hope of
clearing the trenches of the drugs debate. That commission has now given
its recommendations. The message is clear: the current tolerance policy
has become untenable. But the commission doesn't have a miracle solution
either. How could it when we live in a borderless corner of the European
Union? The commission too is balancing between the need to protect
small-scale private users, and the need to fight corruption of the
system.

The committee rightly puts soft drugs in a larger context by including
alcohol in the debate and recommending a minimum age of 18 for both
substances. This is in line with new insights about the effect of both
THC and alcohol on the undeveloped brain. In short, the longer
consumption of THC or alcohol are put off, the better.

Alcohol and drugs will come to play a role in the lives of many, but
that consumption should be allowed to begin at a young age is an
indefensible position. A change in mentality is needed among parents,
schools, civil society and small businesses.

As far as the coffee shops are concerned, the committee is recommending
to lock the door except for registered members. These "cannabis clubs"
would cater only to local users. But it is hard to see how people from
other EU countries could be legally banned from becoming members. Such a
measure would have a discouraging effect for as long as it takes the EU
court in Luxembourg to declare it illegal.

The committee is also recommending experimenting with legalised
production of cannabis in order to decriminalise the supply chain of the
coffee shops. It is not a new idea. But UN and EU rules only allow
cannabis production for scientific or medicinal use, or in small
quantities for personal use.

The Dutch government ordered a study in 2005 to look into the legal
possibility of allowing small-scale cannabis production for the coffee
shops. The answer was crystal clear: EU law doesn't allow for it.
Solutions like these require a political consensus at the European
level. It requires an answer to the question whether cannabis use for
adults is socially acceptable. The questions is too large for the
Netherlands to be able to answer it on its own.


http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2290142.ece/Members-only_cannabis\
_club_wont_pass_the_test_in_Europe