In the 1960s and 1970s the use of drugs such as cannabis products and opiates increased considerably in Western Europe and North America and there were fears in many quarters that this would result in an explosive health problem. It was partly for this reason that new international and national policy frameworks were established during this period to combat drug abuse. Since then, levels of consumption of the various types of drugs in the countries in question have fluctuated considerably; shifts in consumption from one drug to another have also occurred. In some countries, total use has increased; in others, including the Netherlands, drug consumption appears to have stabilised at the level it reached around 1980.
The use of cannabis and opiates has not fallen dramatically, let alone been eradicated. For those who hoped that firm government policy would achieve this the results are disappointing. However, given previous international experience of tackling markets in illegal products or services it seemed likely that government intervention would have only a limited effect. It is partly for this reason that the policy pursued in the Netherlands has always had the more modest objective of bringing or keeping the use of dangerous drugs, as a health and social problem, under control. In terms of this objective drugs policy in the Netherlands has achieved some success. The use of the drugs in question has not become much more prevalent in the Netherlands than it was in the 1970s and from a medical point of view consumption has also not become a more serious problem. The use of nicotine and alcohol takes an incomparably higher toll on people's health in the Netherlands (as indeed it does in other parts of the Western world) than the use of all the drugs covered by the Opium Act together*.
Following the recommendations of the Working Party on Narcotics (1972)*, the government of the day saw no reason to base its policy on the idea that any use of the drugs concerned in itself represented an unacceptable risk to society. Whether or not such a risk existed would depend partly on the circumstances in which the drugs were used and the extent of their use. It was in the light of these factors that the prevention and control of the risks of drug use to society and individuals were made the primary objective of policy.
This drugs policy has never been amended*. It means that the government's role is to prevent young people in particular from unthinkingly starting to use drugs without knowing enough about them or under the influence of other people, and to make medical and/or social assistance available to drug users with problems, in order to alleviate their plight (harm reduction).
On the basis of scientific criteria, legislation in the Netherlands distinguishes between drugs which present an unacceptable risk to health and cannabis products, the risks arising from which are considered less serious (i.e. between hard and soft drugs). The Dutch view is that the interests which have to be protected by the criminal law are primarily health interests. In the Netherlands drugs policy is therefore differentiated according to the seriousness of the potential damage to health which may be caused by the use or abuse of the drug in question.
As in many other countries, the use of drugs in itself is not an offence in the Netherlands*. Users of hard drugs are regarded as patients rather than criminals. Accordingly, a comprehensive, differentiated set of preventive measures and care facilities has been established. The judicial authorities have always followed the principle that drug addicts should undergo medical treatment rather than serve a custodial sentence. Despite the sometimes disappointing results of treatment and/or the recidivism that occurs, this standpoint has been firmly adhered to and new ways of putting it into practice have constantly been sought.
Dutch policy on drug addicts aims to limit the risks and damage caused by drugs and so to ensure the integration of drug users in society. Prevention, out-patient care and residential care are all in the hands of experts who work within professionally managed organisations. The Netherlands spends approximately NLG 160 million per annum on the care of addicts (including clinics and out-patient care). This is a large figure compared with what other countries spend. The treatment concerned is not aimed exclusively at ensuring the total abstinence of all addicts (i.e. that all ex-addicts keep away from drugs altogether); the intention as far as certain closely defined target groups are concerned is to improve their medical condition and the way they function in society. This can be achieved, for example, by providing good medical care, by providing methadone, by operating needle exchange systems and by providing various kinds of day and night reception centres.
As elsewhere, however, drugs policy in the Netherlands is also aimed at raising the threshold for the use of hard drugs as much as possible by the strict use of the criminal law. In the Netherlands as elsewhere the purchase of hard drugs is illegal and the detection of criminal organisations involved in trafficking in any drugs (hard or soft) has for many years been a top priority of the Dutch criminal investigation authorities. The considerable efforts made by the investigation and surveillance services are apparent, for example, from the large quantities of drugs which have been seized (cf. section 5.2). The main elements of the policy are thus in line with international models. Production and trafficking are dealt with severely under the criminal law, in accordance with the UN Single Convention. Each year the Public Prosecutions Department deals with an average of 10,000 cases involving infringements of the Opium Act.
The work involved in the detection and prosecution of offenders imposes considerable burdens on the police and the judiciary. In monetary terms NLG 270 million a year is spent on tackling drug trafficking. At least a further NLG 370 million is spent tackling the crime committed by drug addicts (often property offences). The capacity of the Dutch prison system has been increased in the last ten years from five thousand to twelve thousand places. It is no exaggeration to say that efforts to curb drug trafficking using the criminal law are the most important reason for the increase in the prison population.
While the Netherlands government regards the use of soft drugs as risky, the control strategy is more differentiated than that for hard drugs because the risks are less serious. As in a number of states in the United States and certain other places, the possession of a small quantity of soft drugs for personal use has been decriminalised; that is to say that it is classified as a summary offence rather than an indictable offence. The legislation thus emphasises that the use of the criminal law to tackle the use of soft drugs should not result in the stigmatisation and social marginalisation of users.
Dutch policy on the use of cannabis is based on the assumption that people are more likely to make the transition from soft to hard drugs as a result of social factors than because of physiological ones. If young adults wish to use soft drugs - and experience has shown that many do - the Netherlands believes that it is better that they should do so in a setting in which they are not exposed to the criminal subculture surrounding hard drugs. Tolerating relatively easy access to quantities of soft drugs for personal use is intended to keep the consumer markets for soft and hard drugs separate, thus creating a social barrier to the transition from soft to hard drugs.
After a while the practical result of this principle was that the judicial authorities came to tolerate the sale of soft drugs in youth clubs by bona fide house dealers. This was followed by the establishment of "coffee shops", where soft drugs are sold commercially to people who have reached the age of majority.
In almost all countries which suffer from drug problems the police and judicial authorities are forced to set priorities in the detection and prosecution of offenders who have committed drug-related crimes. Large-scale, cross-border trafficking in hard drugs has the highest priority everywhere, the lowest being assigned to small-scale trafficking in and the possession of soft drugs. This system of priorities is shared, for example, by large parts of the United States of America, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. Only rarely are people still prosecuted in these countries for the possession of small quantities of soft drugs. To all intents and purposes the possession of a few grammes for personal use is no longer an offence there.
In Germany, for example, in accordance with the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe (9 March 1994) a person will no longer be prosecuted on the grounds of having committed an indictable offence if he or she is found to be in possession of a quantity of cannabis deemed to be for personal use. Soft drugs are bought and sold and used on a large scale in and near places of entertainment frequented by young people in the big cities in all the above-mentioned countries. Soft drugs are readily available to young people in towns and cities all over the Western world*. As stated above, to protect these users from criminal circles, small-scale trafficking in "soft" drugs which meets certain strict criteria is also given such low priority as regards detection and prosecution that essentially no action is taken against it in the Netherlands. In other places too the buying and selling of small quantities of soft drugs is allowed to go on more or less unhindered (in neighbouring German Länder for example) but, in accordance with national principles of criminal procedure this low priority is set out in the Netherlands in detailed published guidelines from the Public Prosecutions Department.
This official policy of tolerating soft drugs does not mean that the Netherlands has a more lenient, let alone a more positive attitude to the use of soft drugs; rather it is based on the consideration that tolerating the sale of soft drugs under clear conditions helps prevent the use by young people of more dangerous drugs. The Netherlands' policy on coffee shops is also based on the idea of harm reduction.