I wondered how many addicts there are in the Netherlands, after Mayor Aboutaleb’s plea to check all Rotterdam fruit containers for cocaine from now on. And more must be invested in the police, the judiciary and the judiciary, against the drug trade. Well roared lion, a former colleague of mine used to say to such quotes. This is what those in authority should say – and have been saying for years.
Undoubtedly, the number of seized kilograms will increase after the stricter control. And then descend again because the smugglers choose other channels. what’s coming even more from Colombia except bananas – coffee? It’s cat and mouse. Be every year the ‘record catches’ larger. The trade is thriving and is accompanied by subversion, corruption, murder and manslaughter of a magnitude and brutality that seems to get worse every year. ‘Torture container’ just fell short of the neologism of the year. No matter how much is confiscated, there is never a scarcity. Street prices are not going up. The ‘battle against drugs’ is therefore an illusion.
The Netherlands with its favorable geography, open borders, short distances, efficient transport flows, financial service providers, low risk of being caught and punished – everything reinforces each other. ‘Narco state’ and ‘tax haven’ together provide a criminal biotope in which loads of money slosh around – the NRC podcast about it is not called ‘Cocaine fever’ for nothing. With every arrested customs officer, police inspector, soldier or lawyer, it is a countdown to the next crack in the rule of law. Whose death, arrest or discharge is the next headline? Magistrate, alderman, mayor?
In short, why was cocaine banned again? And how many addicts are there: how big is the problem? The Opium Act was once a political choice. Okay, under international pressure. Coke is banned everywhere, so here too. It is a do you have to† But that is not a prohibition to ponder: what was the legal interest protected by this prohibition? That must be public health.
So: what is the problem of cocaine consumption in the Netherlands in relation to addiction in general? And what is the support for the ban? Certainly when regulating stimulants, where citizens tend to behave rather selfishly, the legislator must dare to make this assessment. Which is worse, the problem or the solution. The costs of enforcement, the side effects such as corruption, undermining, the criminal growth incentive. Or the suffering of the cokeheads in the gutter? Prohibition also came to an end after all knots had been counted in the US.
on Jellinek.nl I think that in the Netherlands about 1.7 million citizens have a problem with stimulants. With the top three being drugs, tobacco and alcohol, in that order. Together they account for 1.6 of the 1.7 million abusers. This is followed by gambling and cannabis with 79,000 and 70,000 problem users. Cocaine follows with 38,000 addicted sniffers and crack smokers. That is of course not nothing. But it is also a fact that consumers seeking a kick, intoxication or other instant pleasure are mainly with something else get into trouble than with cocaine.
Gambling already seems a whole lot more dangerous, which wouldn’t be inferred from the boom in gambling advertisements promoting recently permitted Internet gambling. The state therefore has significant financial interests in this. So apparently that doesn’t matter.
To clarify, I have zero experience with cocaine myself. And not gambling. But I can see how easily it is available, how integrated the ‘line’ is in nightlife and how few moral problems consumers have with it. Just like gambling, by the way.
Yes, there is fear of liquidations, mistaken murders, undermining, the corruption of underprivileged youth and annoyance at the visibly too rich underworld. But the connection with ‘the line’ is rarely made. In many a student house on Friday evening the drug courier arrives with the weekend assortment without any worries. So let’s get the prison sentences for ‘container extractors’ and others in particular, unpack all fruit containers from now on, appoint more police and magistrates, faster batter – the result will be zero and it will remain zero.
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad on 19 February 2022
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of February 19, 2022
#worse #cocaine #fight #cocaine #trafficking