Achei um paper interessante sobre a política de drogas na Holanda.
Para os que acreditam que "deu certo lá, vai dar certo aqui," o paper logo se apressa em avisar:
In order to understand Dutch drug policy, one first needs to know something about the Netherlands itself. After all, a drug policy needs to be in keeping with the characteristics and culture of the country that produces it. The Netherlands is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. A population of around 16 million lives in an area a quarter the size of Vancouver Island. Trade and transport have traditionally been key industries in our country, and the Netherlands is universally regarded as the "gateway to Europe". The Dutch have a strong belief in individual freedom and in the division between "church" (in other words, morality) and state. We believe in pragmatism. At the same time, the Netherlands is characterised by a strong sense of responsibility for collective welfare. It has an extremely extensive system of social facilities and health care and education systems that are available to all. The Netherlands has long been a country of great political diversity, and its present government is made up of liberals, social liberals and social democrats. Our administrative system is decentralised to the local authorities to a large extent (particularly where drug policy is concerned).
Para os que acham que a Holanda é um paraíso de venda e consumo de drogas, o paper deixa claro:
Many people think that drugs are legally available in the Netherlands, and that we make no effort to combat the supply side of the drug market. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is continual, intensive co-operation between the addict care system, the judicial authorities and the public administrators. With the exception of small-scale cannabis dealing in coffeeshops, tackling all other forms of drug dealing and production has high priority. The police and customs officials regularly seize large hauls of drugs and collaborate closely with other countries in the fight against organised crime. Last year, about 40.000 kg of cannabis and about 660.000 marihuana plants have been seized; 1372 nursery gardens have been dismantled; 5,5 million tablets of XTC have been seized. I refer to the separate fact sheet on Justice-data that will be presented today. The punishability of drug-related offences is comparable with that in many other countries, and the extent to which we enforce our drug laws is also closely comparable with that in our neighbour countries. The Netherlands has one of the largest prison capacities in Europe, and 17 % of the cells are occupied by violators of our drug laws. It has been estimated that between 25 and 44% of the prison population consists of drug addicts or drugusers.
Vale a pena ler todo paper. Ele trata também dos resultados da políticas e dos constantes desafios que eles enfrentam.
