by Jaap de Vlieger
Drugs legislation and drugs policy in the Netherlands'Dutch drugs policy has been formulated with a view to protecting public health and is based on two principles: enforcement of the Narcotics Act and a policy of prevention and aid.
The central aim is to limit the risks involved in the use of drugs as much as possible for the users themselves, for their immediate surroundings and for society'.
Holland's first drug legislation dates back to 1919. No distinction was made yet between various kinds of controlled drugs. No distinction was made either between the consumption of drugs and the trade in them. The term 'Narcotics' used at the time also includes substances like coffee, tobacco and alcohol, but these were not covered by the Narcotics Act, which was a distinctly political choice.
Since then, more realistic notions have been conceived and expressed in the Netherlands about illicit drugs about their consumption. As not all illicit drugs pose the same risk to the user, a distinction was made on the basis of that risk. Since its amendment in 1976, the Narcotics Act distinguishes between two kinds of drugs:
drugs posing an unacceptable risk (hard drugs, including XTC)
drugs posing an acceptable / less heavy risk (soft drugs, including marijuana and hashish).
Besides, the use of the so-called 'soft drugs' was decriminalized by making the possession of a small quantity of 30 grams for private consumption no longer a crime, but a summary offence.
In addition, the law was meant to segregate the hard drug market from the soft drug market. The underlying idea of segregating the two markets was to prevent people who felt they must smoke a joint or a hashish-pipe from getting into unintended contact with illicit hard drugs. The law therefore also provided for the decriminalisation of the small-time trade in soft drugs. The small-time dealer with a stock of up to 30 grams was no longer prosecuted for an indictable offence but, if and when necessary, for a summary offence.
Rotterdam appreciated the fact that this tolerated small-time dealer needed to be supplied. This is how the small-time dealer proceeded from the black market to the grey market. He was now able to offer his merchandise for sale more or less officially without running too many risks. Soon afterwards the intended segregation between markets was a fact.
The result was that caf‚-like establishments were set up where a variety of soft drugs were available: the alternative caf‚ for people who like smoking a joint in the company of others without being bothered by those holding different views. The coffee-shop was born, also in Rotterdam.
Over the years, this has led to the introduction of national regulations. The owner of a coffee-shop now has to stick to the following rules:
These regulations are enforced as much as possible, often after complaints about nuisance have been received. In the course of time several coffee-shops have been closed for breaking one of these rules and/or under the nuisance regulations which form part of Rotterdam's Municipal Ordinances.
In the past, the Rotterdam police have managed to prevent the development of a monopoly in Rotterdam for one single coffee-shop owner by taking a hard line.
At present, Rotterdam has between 20 and 25 coffee-shops, spread throughout the city. Besides, there are a number of catering establishments referred to by the police as drug distribution points, where both hard drugs and soft drugs are sold. I want to make it clear that these are not covered by the coffee-shop regulations. Local police units in the various districts follow a policy of repression with respect to these catering establishments.
We have fairly good contacts with the coffee-shop owners. They are approachable and we can make arrangements with them if they are causing a nuisance. Often, the nuisance is caused not so much by the sale of soft drugs itself as by the attendant circumstances like the custom they attract from the surrounding area and/or other countries. But it would be fair to say that most of the coffee-shops, just like most of the caf‚s, do not cause insurmountable problems.
To prevent the two users' markets from becoming fused and to prevent confusion abroad about Dutch drug policy, it is of paramount importance that the definition of 'coffee-shop' is clear remains clear and that we act in accordance with it.
A city council can pursue its own policy with regard to the coffeeshop, of course subject to the regulations I have just mentioned.
It is estimated that the Netherlands has some 600,000 marijuana or hashish users, who jointly account for a turnover of about 580 million ecus (1,2 thousand million guilders.)
Drug tourism is not a new phenomenon. Since the late seventies foreign users have been coming to the Netherlands to buy and use illicit drugs. They obtained the dealers' addresses from the local drug scene. There was no specific drug tourist problem. They formed part of the local drug scene.
In the late eighties people of Moroccan origin conquered part of the illegal small-time hard drug market in Rotterdam. To consolidate that position, these dealers put so-called drug runners (guides) on the road to meet French-speaking tourists from Belgium and France and escort them to the dealers' addresses. The drugs were of good quality and their price was relatively low. This increased the number of drug tourists and the quantities they bought.
Soon, at the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990, this running or guiding caused a grave nuisance to traffic both on the circular motorway round Rotterdam and in the city centre. Attempts were made to reduce the nuisance to traffic by means of extra road patrols and by large police actions on the motorways. This running and guiding not only caused problems in traffic but drug tourism also causes a serious nuisance in the vicinity of the dealers' premises.
By drug runners we mean persons who:
1 aggressively obtrude themselves on drivers of foreign cars, particularly Belgian or French cars, both inside and outside the built-up area, either as pedestrians or as drivers of passenger cars, as a result of which dangerous traffic situations arise;
2 obtrusively recommend drugs to any ordinary foreign tourists, particularly Belgian or French ones, who experience this as a grave nuisance;
3 accost ordinary foreign tourists against their will and offer drugs for sale in trains and at and round the Central Railway Station;
4 incite infringement of the Narcotics Act, notably the trade in and the possession of hard drugs or who are accomplices to the commission of such criminal offences.
The negative image of the Netherlands and of Rotterdam in particular is the result of the misbehaviour I have just outlined.
Running is done especially by young people between 14 to 25 who have Moroccan nationality or are of Moroccan origin. What causes us great concern is that often at an early age they play a distinct role, clear to themselves, in an organised crime context.
Drug tourists are people visiting Rotterdam with the preconceived aim of buying illicit drugs. We can divide them into tourists who buy soft drugs, use them and then leave, and drug tourists addicted to hard drugs. They come to Rotterdam intending to buy hard drugs and regularly make use of the services of drug runners. They buy the hard drugs, use them and spend one or more nights in Rotterdam. Peak hours are on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Many French and Belgian drug tourists steal a car in their own country in which they then drive to Rotterdam. In 1991, 122 of those cars were returned to their lawful owners and so were 219 cars in 1992. The figures for 1993 and 1994 are well above the 200 mark. In addition, there is an increase in so-called barter trade between drug tourists and dealers. Stolen goods and/or fire arms, brought in by the tourists, are exchanged for the required drugs.
Increasingly drug tourists try to evade checks by police officers on patrol. This leads to wild and dangerous chases by police cars, causing a risk to traffic and to unsuspecting road users.
In general, drug tourists who are familiar with the scene increase the nuisance at and round dealers' premises and also increase the sense of insecurity among residents in the immediate surroundings. We may distinguish between dealers' premises with exclusively foreign customers, the tourists, and dealers' premises where also the local drug addicts are frequently present and where they reside.
What goes for drug tourists in fact also goes for drug runners. So long as no punishable offences have been proved, for example the possession of a stolen car and/or goods or the possession of drugs, they cannot be dealt with. They are then residing as tourists in a free country. Of course, driving a vehicle with a foreign registration plate is no legal ground for searching the vehicle and/or the clothing of the occupants.
Meanwhile neighbourhoods have developed in Rotterdam where drug dealers have set up some sort of an early-warning system which is triggered when the police enter the neighbourhood. This hampers police action against dealers' premises causing a nuisance.
Over the years it has been found that within a number of Moroccan families a hierarchy has developed which is responsible for the distributive trade and for dealing in both heroin and cocaine.
Although various law enforcement agencies took action to combat the nuisance caused by drug tourism and drug running, this did not result in the problems being brought under control, let alone being reduced.
It was therefore decided that a harder line had to be followed.
Since April 1993 there have been ongoing efforts to diminish the nuisance caused by drugs by means of large-scale and visible operations by the police, the judicial authorities and other government agencies. The aims are to achieve a clearly noticeable decrease in drug tourism, a decrease in nuisance to traffic caused by drug runners and a decrease in complaints from the neighbourhoods about nuisance caused by drug tourism.
These actions are also intended to show that the Dutch authorities, in contrary tot popular belief in some countries, take the problems extremely seriously.
In 1994 this led to the arrest and registration of 531 drug runners in the age group between 14 to 25. The nationality of 279 of them was Moroccan, 41 were Dutch (of Moroccan origin), 25 Dutch, 7 French, 5 Algerian and of 174 the nationality was unknown.
Besides, 649 drug tourists were detained and registered. Of these, 371 had the French nationality, 46 were Belgian, 34 German, 14 Algerian and of 184 the nationality was unknown.
Although there is growing appreciation for Holland's drug policy, Holland is blamed for drug tourism, especially by the French, but also by the Belgian and the German authorities. It is my opinion that this is unjustified.
In my view, the cause of the drug problem in foreign cities is to be found in the social and economic conditions of the region or the country.
House is a mixture of soul music, well-known synthesizer tunes and home-made computer breaks and beats. This music was born in the seventies in the Warehouse Club in Chicago. In the mid nineteen-eighties a wide range of House types came into being, the best known of which are Newbeat, Deep, Garage, Hip, Acid and Techno House.
Today we've got Tribal, Happy and Mellow House and Ambient, ranging from a 100 to a 150 beats per minute, and then there are Gabber House or Hardcore, rising to over 250 beats per minute.
It is this Gabber or Hardcore that causes us the greatest concern. Gabber House is the House music for, if I may put it that way, the problem youngsters, if I may say so. The combination of music, light effects, clothing, the extravagant atmosphere, drugs and sex plus the often negative publicity evidently cause such a threatening atmosphere that both society and government react to this phenomenon in exactly the same way as they did in the days of hippies, punk and flower power.
The negative publicity is especially due to XTC, today's drug in fashion. Nevertheless, House parties or raves are the parties with the highest attendance in the Netherlands. Raves are held at a wide range of locations, such as sports centres, warehouses, ice rinks and swimming pools, but also in the open air. The locations can be divided into:
The first category have the standard licences for the catering sector, and there is little that can be added to them, unless the closing hours are altered.
For the parties in large halls and warehouses and in the open air, regulations have been formulated by the city council, the Municipal Health Department and the police jointly. Compliance with these regulations is checked, which is of vital importance. In addition, we feel that Rotterdam should not be flooded by a spate of applications for licences to hold raves. Rotterdam is the first municipality where regulations have been introduced. We realize that if we ban these parties they will continue to be held clandestinely and that as a government agency you will lose your grip on these events. The regulations we have brought in cover public order and safety, health and any damage that may be caused. For the rest, the cost of the services rendered by municipal departments are to be paid by the organiser, with the exception of core tasks like those of the police and the fire service.
A number of important regulations are:
1 The organiser is responsible for maintaining public order at and round the location; this includes parking and/or pollution of the area.
2 The organiser is to see to it that an adequate number of guards are present (under the Security Services Act).
3 Checks for the possession of weapons are to be conducted at the entrance.
4 The organiser is to see to it that no trade in illicit drugs will take place at the location and in its immediate surroundings.
There must be:
During raves some 500 XTC tests are performed on a total of 4,000 party-goers. Such a test costs 1.20 ecus (some two and a half guilders). Bearing in mind that pills are also offered on behalf of a friend or a group of friends, it would be a justified estimate to say that one third of the visitors swallow XTC pills, and this estimate is a conservative one.
Good relations with the organiser are an important factor if the event is to pass off smoothly. He should be judged on his compliance with the agreements made. Owners of discotheques should know what they are doing and be willing to allow XTC information activities.
An XTC user does not need more and more to experience the same effect, as is the case with alcohol or speed. XTC is not addictive, but that does not mean that it holds no risks. If used wrongly, or in the event of abuse or an overdose, intoxication symptoms may occur, such as palpitations, cramp, nausea and vomiting, but also fits of panic and hallucinations.
Personally, as regards the future, I am more worried about synthetic drugs than I have ever been about conventional drugs, including heroin and cocaine.
Recently, in her opening speech at a seminar, our health minister made a few provocative remarks about current preventive practice in Holland:
She asked addiction workers 'especially to guard against losing touch with the trends in entertainment among young people'. She stressed 'the importance of effectiveness by deploying preventive activities particularly in those places where they are most needed, for example at rave parties and in coffee-shops'.