From: [h--e--l] at [xs4all.hacktic.nl] (Hans Nelisse)
Newsgroups: alt.hemp,alt.drugs
Subject: Re: Criminalisation of cannabis
Date: 26 Jun 1994 01:27:03 +0200

Let's see if I can give some information on the dutch drug history.


Like Brittain, our country has also been involved in the opium trade for
many centuries. Our main colony in Asia was Indonesia. At the time dutch
colonists arived there, opium usage was not common there yet. That changed
when dutch traders began importing opium from countries like India and
Turkey. This turned out to be a very profitable business. To protect this
business the goverment made some laws that prohibited foreigners from
importing opium. They also prohibited the production of opium in Indonesia
because this could be competitive with the import of opium.

At the end of the 19th century some groups in Holland began to critisize
the way our country treated the indonesion population. There also rose
some concern about the opium addiction among them. Some people called for
a prohibition of opium. At that time there were some vivid discussions
about it in parliament. Often people made comparisons with alcohol which
was at that time heavily used in the Netherlands. They were argueing
whether opium was more dangerous or not, and some people said that trying
to outlaw opium would be as stupid at trying to outlaw alcohol here (only a
fool would propose the latter ;-).

The goverment however didn't want to lose the profitable opium business.
But they promised they would try to reduce the problems of opium addiction.
A major policy change was that from now on the government would have a
monopoly on opium trade in Indonesia. Sale was only allowed in government
shops. This way they would be able to control the situation (and of course
make more profit). This situation continued till 1942, when Japan invaded
Indonesia.

Meanwhile in the Netherlands the so called 'opium-law' came in effect in
1919. This prohibited possesion and sale of opium in the Netherlands (but
not in its colonies). Some people think that the real reason for this law
was combatting opium-smuggling to indonesia, as opium usage was virtualy
non-existing here. Exceptions were some small communities of chinese seamen
in the harbours of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, but among them it was usualy
tolerated. In 1928 other substances like cocaine and cannabis were included
in the law. These too were virtually non-existing here. They were added to
the law on request of foreign countries (the egyptian doctor?).

After the second worldwar marijuana was introduced here, mainly by american
soldiers and jazz musicians. It was limited to a very small scene until
the early 60's. At this time the so called 'Provo' movement arose; an
alternative subcultural group of young people, similar to the later 'hippy'
movement, focused on provocating and fooling the authorities in a ludic way.
At that time the police knew *nothing* about cannabis, except that it was
against the law. They didn't even know how hashish and marijuana looked
like. The reaction of the provo movement was the so called 'marihuette'
game. They would provoke to get busted for various kinds of fake hashish
and marijuana, like dried leaves, dogfood, etc. They often informed the
press to ridicule the authorities. Another action was their 'Lowlands Weed
Company' which sold tiny hemp plants grown from bird seeds, exploring a gap
in the law. 

In the early 70's the government made some studies about drugs. The Baan
report (1972) and the Cohen report (1975) proposed legalisation of cannabis.
But the government thought they couldn't do that at that time because of
international treaties and the views of other european countries. The Cohen
report, although rejecting the 'stepping stone' theory, warned that in the
'drug-scene' cannabis users might come in contact with other drugs. In 1978
the government updated the law. They now made a distinction between soft-
and harddrugs. From now on possesion and sale of cannabis was only a minor
offense. The policy would be to separate the markets of cannabis and
harddrugs. Sale of small amounts of cannabis in youth clubs and coffeeshops
was under certain conditions tolerated as this would keep away cannabis
users from the black market.

During the last couple of years there have been some new developments. First,
in some cities the amount of coffeeshops has rapidly grown. Another
development is the production of local grown marijuana, which has grown both
in quantity and in quality. In some cities near the border drug tourism is
becoming a problem, but this is mainly due to harddrug addicts. It is a
result of the EC policy to reduce border control. These developments have
rose concern among some politicians. Two of the four major political parties,
the christian-democratic CDA and the right-wing-liberal VVD, would like to
tighten the current policy. The other two, the social-democratic PvdA and
the left-wing-liberal D66, are in favour of legalisation. A few weeks ago
we had elections for parliament. At this moment PvdA, D66 and VVD are
negotiating for a new coalition. But the conservative parties (CDA, VVD and
a number of smaller ones) have a small majority in parliament which could
block further decriminalisation or legalisation.