Drug Laws of the Netherlands Essay - 1344 Words

-Drug Laws of The Netherlands – Is a Permissive Legal System Better than a Restrictive One in the Case of Drugs? Introduction The Netherlands is one of the most highly developed countries in the world. It is an international, well-integrated country with policies that are among the world’s most liberal. In fact, The Netherlands has perhaps the most liberal view on drug use than any other country and has even gone to the extreme of extraordinarily relaxing its laws regarding ‘soft’ drugs. However, a common misconception about drugs in the Netherlands is that people believe they have been legalized there. Rather, cannabis and its by-products, marijuana and hashish, have merely been decriminalized. This means that the sale and use in†¦show more content†¦5). Dutch drug policy is guided by the principle of what is best described as quot;harm reductionquot; (Bransten, para. 8). This means that drugs are perceived as a public health issue and the goal should be to minimize the harm those drugs do to individuals and to society –- not to criminally punish soft drug users. With respect to users of hard drugs, they are monitored and encouraged to turn to the public health system for treatment, but unless they commit other crimes, they are not prosecuted in The Netherlands (Bransten, para. 7). Consequently, the Dutch spend their time and money on prevention and education instead of criminal prosecution (Bransten, para. 8). This has allowed the Dutch authorities to concentrate their efforts policing activities elsewhere. In fact, since the policy was implemented, the Dutch police have concentrated on pursuing drug traffickers, drug laboratories, and all other crime related activities. Therefore, would it be fair to say that the decriminalization of soft drugs been a success in The Netherlands? Several decades have passed since soft drugs were decriminalized and it is still somewhat difficult to make a final determination of its ‘success’. The results (positive or negative) of decriminalizing drugs and instituting a permissive legal system with respect to drugs, are disputed and somewhat unclear. The next section of this paper attempts to sort out the conflicting data that hasShow MoreRelated War on Drugs: Germany compared to the Netherlands Essay982 Words   |  4 PagesThe War on Drugs One of the key aspects to consider when evaluating domestic political actors preferences towards policies pertaining to illegal drug use in both the Netherlands and Germany is to evaluate their ideological differences. The Netherlands attitude towards drug policy revolves around limiting the negative impacts illegal drug use has on society by implementing laws catered towards decriminalization. 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