DrugScope have launched DS Daily, a new daily drug and alcohol news service. The service will operate every weekday, plus you can subscribe to a weekly email which will provides a summary of the week's news.

DS Daily - DrugScope launch a daily drug and alcohol news service

Limit the sale of cannabis to local users, reconsider the distinction between hard and soft drugs, raise the legal age for drinking alcohol from 16 to 18 and appoint a drug czar to overlook policies. These are the most striking recommendations published on Thursday by a committee chaired by Christian democrat Wim van de Donk.

The Dutch government had asked the committee to lay the groundwork for a new memorandum on Dutch drug policies to be drafted this fall. The report is in line with repressive measures already taken in recent years, but the committee explicitly says it does not want to end the so-called 'gedoogbeleid' (tolerance policy), nor does it want to legalise the cannabis trade completely.

The three parties in the Dutch coalition government - Christian democrats, Labour and ChristenUnie (orthodox Christian) - agree that the present drugs policy needs to be revised. The country has seen a dramatic increase in drug tourism and exports of Dutch-grown cannabis have soared. That is not just causing problems at home, it also gives offence to other EU member states unhappy with the Dutch policy.

But the coalition parties don't see eye to eye on which direction to take.
The current drugs policy is ambiguous at best: cannabis users are not prosecuted and coffee shops are licensed, but the cultivation and wholesale of cannabis are still prohibited. The Labour party has advocated including the production and wholesale of cannabis in the tolerance policy, but the Christian democrats favour complete prohibition.

Despite its international reputation as a Mecca for legal drugs, the use or possession of weed or hash is in fact still a misdemeanour in the Netherlands. But since a 1976 revision of the Opium Law separated hard drugs (e.g. cocaine, xtc) and soft drugs (cannabis), personal use of the latter is no longer prosecuted and the cafes that sell them are tolerated as well.

# The use, possession or sale of cannabis have never been legalised in the Netherlands. Possession and production for personal use are considered misdeameanours. However, possesion of cannabis for personal use is not prosecuted up to five grammes or five cannabis plants.

# Coffee shops are allowed to stock a maximum of 500 grammes of cannabis.

# Large-scale production, export or import of cannabis are illegal, and should always prosecuted.

# In other words: coffee shop owners can legally sell cannabis but they cannot legally buy it.

The Van de Donk committee now wants the coffee shops to go back to their original purpose: they should be limited in number and size and cater to registered local users rather than the "large-scale facilities that supply consumers from neighbouring countries" they have become. This should reduce the nuisance caused by tourists who cross the German and Belgian borders to buy drugs.

Part of the motivation for the Dutch tolerance policy was to take soft drugs out of the criminal sphere by separating them from hard drugs. But as law professor Cyrille Fijnaut, a member of the Van de Donk committee, noted in an article published last March, this has never happened. Even if coffeeshops are legal, the production and trade are still in the hands of criminals, if only because supplying the coffeeshops is by definition illegal.

The Van de Donk committee doesn't propose changing that equation. It does suggest a limited experiment with regulating the supply line for coffee shops. It also wants to raise the maximum amount of cannabis a coffee shop owner can legally have in stock; it is currently capped at 500 grammes.The committee also questions the wisdom of the distinction between soft and drugs, and suggest that more research needs to be done on the subject.

The criminal character of a large part of the cannabis trade and the high values of the psychiactive ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in Dutch weed, could be reasons to revise the distinction, the committee said. However, experts have said that THC levels have gone down again in the past four years and research suggest that users adjust the amounts they smoke to the strength of the weed.

# limit the sale of cannabis to local users

# experiment with legal production and supply of members-only coffee shops

# order more research, possibly rethink distinction between soft and hard drugs

# appoint a drug czar to coordinate all initiatives

A substantial part of the report is dedicated to young people and how to protect them from the harmful effects of drugs and alcohol . Van de Donk wants to raise the legal age for drinking alcohol from 16 to 18, which is also the legal age for smoking cannabis.

Statistics actually show a decline in the number of Dutch teenagers using soft drugs, from 14 percent in 1996 to 10 percent today. Of the Dutch population between 15 and 64 less than 5 percent smokes drugs on a regular basis.

It is unclear if this is a result of the tougher approach recently taken to soft drugs. Although no drastic measures have been taken at the national level - apart from a ban on hallucinogenic 'magic' mushrooms last year - local authorities have clamped down on the cultivation, sale and use of soft drugs.

In Amsterdam and Rotterdam, coffee shops are banned within a 250 meters radius of high schools. Border towns Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal closed all their eight coffee shops to put a stop to the flood of Belgian drug tourists crossing the border to buy supplies. The largest coffee shop in the country, in the town of Terneuzen, was shut down in 2008 because it exceeded the allowed amounts of marijuana bought and sold. Its owner is being prosecuted for running a criminal organisation. The southern city of Maastricht is transforming its coffee shops in to members-only clubs.
Between 1997 and 2007 the number of coffee shops went down from 846 to 702.

The diversity of local initiatives calls for a clear national direction, the Van de Donk report says. Too many authorities are currently involved in developing and enforcing policies, which are related to issues of justice, health care, public safety, education and even foreign policy. The report calls for one drug czar to overlook all these areas. "The problem justifies a more binding ambition, based on political leadership, which also extends to connect us with our neighbours and the US", according to Van de Donk.

The Netherlands reviews its tolerant approach to drug policy

The New Zealand Drug Foundation has produced a series of videos which are now published on their YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/nzdrugfoundation). The clips are edited highlights from the February 2009 International Drug Policy Symposium: "Through the maze - Healthy drug law"

* Setting the scene
* Addiction treatment
* Criminal justice
* The cannabis debate

A 60 minute DVD from the symposium is also available on request from admin@drugfoundation.org.nz.

Series of videos available from the New Zealand Drug Foundation

At a side event of the G8 meeting of Foreign Ministers on last Saturday (27th June 2009), the US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, described what seems like a significant shift in US tactics towards opium poppy cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan. His reported comments acknowledge that the preferred US strategy from the Bush era – focussing on forced eradication, had proved counterproductive, and that in the future the focus would shift to support for enforcement against major traffickers, and alternative development programmes aimed at peasant farmers. While the announcement is welcome in itself (Mr Holbrooke states that ‘The farmers are not our enemy, they’re just growing a crop to make a living’), its implications for counter narcotics strategy in Afghanistan are significant – differences of strategy have bedevilled international co-operation in Afghanistan, with European donors preferring a more development based approach.

It seems that this announcement will facilitate a new and more effective partnership in the fight to disentangle the cultivation of opium from the funding of extremist and criminal groups. It is also consistent with what IDPC has called for in policies towards source countries – that efforts to stifle the production and distribution of drugs should not focus on enforcement action against growers.

US announces change of policy in Afghanistan

INPUD has been blogging in their role as NGO observers to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board (PCB). Check out their blog which also covers other international events and conferences of relevant to drug policy.

INPUD blogs at the UNAIDS PCB meeting 

As the United Nations launches the 2009 World Drug Report this week, more than 40 international groups and experts worldwide today issued a call to action that presses governments to adopt a humane approach to drug policy.

The call to action, signed by IDPC, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, former president of Brazil Fernando Cardoso, and others, urges governments to enact policies that are based on scientific and medical research rather than politics.

Rather than receiving treatment, millions of nonviolent drug users are languishing in prisons as a result of current drug policies. The drug trade continues to grow while families are torn apart by the global war on drugs. As the HIV and AIDS crisis spreads, policies that drive away drug users are creating public health disasters.

Instead of continuing with these ineffective and harmful policies, the call to action urges governments to focus on reducing the harms of drug trade and use. It is time for governments to support needle exchange, substitution therapy, and decriminalization of possession for personal use. Drug control measures must respect human rights with penalties that are proportional and humane, and recognize that drug cultivation is primarily a development issue—not simply a security threat.

Call to Action: Support Global Drug Policy Reform

UNODC today launched the 2009 World Drug Report in Washington, D.C. The launch was led by UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa and the newly appointed Director of the United States Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske.

UNODC launches 2009 World Drug Report

IHRA is pleased to announce that a new online version of the Global State of Harm Reduction is now available. This e-tool is the latest in a series of resources that aim to provide up-to-date information on harm reduction policies and programmes around the world.

This online database draws upon the Global State of Harm Reduction 2008 report as well as the latest available research to present an at-a-glance guide to the current state of drug policies and harm reduction responses worldwide.

The information is separated into a Global Overview and nine regional sections for Asia, the Caribbean, Eurasia (covering Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia), Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, North America, Oceania, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Western Europe. Each page has accessible tables, maps and links to other resources. All of the data is referenced and the maps and tables are in a printable format for easy re-use.

The e-tool is a directory of harm reduction – showing which countries are supportive and listing some of the main international and national civil society bodies which are advocating for harm reduction. It will be regularly updated and expanded when new data is found, new research is carried out, or new information is obtained through feedback from e-tool users around the world.

Click here to access the new Global State of Harm Reduction online tool.

IHRA launches ‘Global State of Harm Reduction' online tool

We have finalised our general work plan for 2009/2010 and confirmed the membership of six new partner members and six new network members. This information is summarised a new IDPC description document. Please circulate this document widely to your colleagues or contacts who may be interested in IDPC.

IDPC welcomes 12 new members and launches new structure and work plan

Tom Lloyd and Jan Wiarda held an IDPC Satellite event on ‘A new role for law enforcement’ at the recent meeting of Heads of National Drug Law Enforcement Agencies (HONLEA), Europe in Vienna. Following the success of the satellite, Tom Lloyd was invited to give this statement at the end of the formal plenary. We will include further details of the event in next month’s Alert.

IDPC gives statement to HONLEA Europe meeting in Vienna

Two significant submissions to the Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform were made last month, one by John Carnevale and the second by Peter Reuter and Jonathan Caulkins. Both submissions provide damning assessments of the performance of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (the White House office which oversees the US national drug strategy) over the last 8 years, with Carnevale calling for more balanced and evidence-driven policies, and Reuter & Caulkins critical of the resort to mass imprisonment and the failure to differentiate between the harm profiles of various drugs.

Prominent US drug policy experts provide critical testimony to Congress on last 8 years of White House Policy

The IDPC is delighted to announce the appointment of Ann Fordham to the position of full-time Coordinator. Ann comes to us from the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, where she worked in the Executive Director's office supporting, among other things, their policy on prevention amongst IDUs; she will take up the post with us at the end of November. There were a great many applicants, and a very strong shortlist with individuals from diplomatic, NGO and international agency backgrounds, but we felt that Ann had the best mix of skills to cover the requirements of the post. Once Ann is settled in the post, her accountabilities will include involvement in and coordination of advocacy, research, report writing, and policy and strategy; she will also be responsible for fundraising, liaison, communications, website development, and administration.

The fourth of our regular "UNGASS News" updates, keeping the network up to speed with developments in the review process, the draft annex of the political declaration, the series of inter-governmental negotiating meetings, Beyond 2008 updates and how to plan for the March meeting. http://www.idpc.info/php-bin/documents/IDPC_UNGASSNEWS4_Oct08_EN.pdf

3. IDPC ADVOCACY GUIDE ON THE "ANNEX" OF THE UNITED NATIONS DRUG POLICY REVIEW POLITICAL DECLARATION

The review of the objectives and action plans agreed at the 1998 UNGASS has reached a critical stage as attention now moves to the political process of negotiating the text of a political declaration to be agreed at the high level meeting in March 2009. This advocacy guide gives the IDPC perspective on the draft annex of the proposed political declaration, information on how to influence the draft and what to advocate for. http://www.idpc.info/php-bin/documents/IDPC_AdvocacyNoteAnnex_Oct08_EN.pdf

4. AN OVERVIEW OF CANNABIS POLICY: MOVING BEYOND STALEMATE (THE REPORT OF THE BECKLEY FOUNDATION GLOBAL CANNABIS COMMISSION - SEPTEMBER 2008)

This BFDPP Briefing paper provides an overview of Cannabis Policy: Moving Beyond Stalemate, the Report of the Beckley Foundation Global Cannabis Commission. The report was produced after a group of international experts were commissioned to undertake a review of the current evidence regarding cannabis and its place in the international drug control system. The policy context of this undertaking lies in the UNGASS review of the performance of the international drug control system, which will result, at next year's Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND), in a high level meeting at which ministers will agree on the future direction of drug control efforts. The objective of the Cannabis Commission was to provide a report that summarises the evidence relating to cannabis in a way that is useful and accessible for policy makers. As the Brief shows, the resultant Report discusses the drug's production, supply and consumption, its harms and its benefits, and the role of the present system of regulation in managing these elements. It concludes that current control regimes are either ineffective or inconsistent, and challenges policy makers to confront these realities, and agree a more rational way forward for international cannabis control. Below is a link to the full report and the BFDPP briefing paper. LINK TO FULL REPORT - http://www.idpc.info/php-bin/documents/BF_Cannabis_Commission_Rpt2008_EN.pdf LINK TO BFDPP BRIEFING PAPER - http://www.idpc.info/php-bin/documents/BFDPP_Briefing17_Cannabis_Oct08_EN.pdf