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Stokes
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 1426
Location: PA
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 Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:28 am Post subject: Strange Bedfellows |
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It looks like only time will tell if this agreement is good for cannabis freedom in America, or bad for cannabis freedom in the Netherlands.
Maybe both ... or neither? 
Any opinions?
| Quote: |
U.S. AND NETHERLANDS REACH ACCORD ON CUTTING DRUG USE
On July 9, 1998, Barry R. McCaffrey, then the White House drug policy director, fired an opening salvo against the Dutch, declaring that drug-fighting policies in the Netherlands were "an unmitigated disaster."
Eleven days later, after a maelstrom of criticism in the Netherlands, McCaffrey acknowledged he may have overstepped. On reflection, he said, the policy was a "mitigated disaster."
But the flood gates had opened, and the Bush administration has been waging a public battle with Dutch authorities over their permissive approach to drugs, criticizing cannabis cafes that target foreigners and ecstasy factories supplying drugs to Americans.
In 2000, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration called the Netherlands "perhaps the most important drug trafficking and transiting area in Europe," and last year McCaffrey's successor, John P. Walters, called the country's policies "fundamentally irrational."
But last Thursday there was a limited rapprochement. Standing together at the National Press Club, Walters and Hans Hoogervorst, the Netherlands' health secretary, announced they had signed an agreement for reducing drug use. In an instant, seven years of acrimony was history amid handshakes, smiles and warm words.
"What an entertaining pairing," said Peter Reuter, a drug policy expert at the University of Maryland, who said he was surprised by the move. Although there has been closer cooperation since 2003 with a bilateral program known as "Agreed Steps," President Bush said in his most recent annual report to Congress that the Netherlands remained a "dominant source country" for "club drugs."
The reason for the sudden love-in? The administration drug chief and his new best friend had bonded over a new high-potency form of marijuana, known as THC, because of its psychoactive ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
"The conventional, or cartoon, view of our two countries is that the United States is irresponsibly harsh and the Dutch are irresponsibly permissive and we are anti-poles of how you handle drugs," Walters said Friday.
"But on a visit to Holland earlier this year, I was struck by how much commonality there was over the issue of marijuana THC and high-potency cannabis," he said. "Their research showed that 20 percent of homegrown marijuana was THC, and they were having significantly greater problems with this. Dutch government agencies have been saying this almost ought to be treated as a different drug."
Having identified an area on which they could work together, Walters and Hoogervorst drew up a  statement. The agreement paves the way for a summit this fall between U.S. and Dutch researchers, information sharing between drug addiction experts and the assignment of a Dutch researcher to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
"Does this represent any major change? The answer is no. What's significant is that both sides want to make peace," Reuter said. He also said that despite the accord on high-potency cannabis, there has been little action on the issues that so worried two successive U.S. administrations, even from the right-of-center Dutch government.
"My understanding is that this government is more cautious than its predecessor but has made no major changes to the law," Reuter said. "It has slowed down the program to switch methadone to heroin and has been under pressure to curb the use of cannabis coffee shops by foreigners, but changes have been modest."
Walters agreed. "The law hasn't changed dramatically, and we still have our differences. But I do think there's been both a change in circumstances and a change in officials," he said.
Ivo H. Daalder, a senior analyst at the Brookings Institution, cautioned not to overstate the role of drugs in the relationship between the two countries.
"Drugs have been an irritant in the relationship, but hardly the issue that defines it," Daalder said. "President Bush is more interested in whether they have troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, which they had until March. There are several issues like drug policy -- euthanasia, abortion and gay marriage, for instance -- where the two sides disagree, but they quickly put them aside and get on with being good allies."
Pubdate: Mon, 18 Jul 2005
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2005 The Washington Post Company
Contact: letters@washpost.com
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ |
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Where love is, there God is also.
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Torkel
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 23 Nov 2004
Posts: 1396
Location: West Virginia, USA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:27 am Post subject: |
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Well, whatever the "agreement", the US should mind it's own damned business...
if it does that, then it won't be minding anybody else's.
Thanks for the article, Stokes. 
Peace,
Torkel
_________________
Miller vs U.S. (230 F 2nd 486,489): "The claim and exercise of a Constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime."
Miranda vs Arizona (384 U.S. 436, 125): "Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule-making or legislation which would abrogate them."
HAGANS vs LAVINE (415 US 533 N-3,note 5): "Once JURISDICTION is challenged it must be proven by the Plaintiff." |
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Fyrefly1
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 2209
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
The reason for the sudden love-in? The administration drug chief and his new best friend had bonded over a new high-potency form of marijuana, known as THC, because of its psychoactive ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
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As usual, the press got it wrong! 
New kind of 'Marijuana' known as 'THC' these guys are just now learning this! LOL!
Jeez, give me a break.... 
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Fyrefly1
"All truth passes through three stages: first it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, 19th Century Philosopher |
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Stokes
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 28 Nov 2004
Posts: 1426
Location: PA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Fyrefly1 wrote: |
| Quote: |
The reason for the sudden love-in? The administration drug chief and his new best friend had bonded over a new high-potency form of marijuana, known as THC, because of its psychoactive ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol.
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As usual, the press got it wrong!
New kind of 'Marijuana' known as 'THC' these guys are just now learning this! LOL!
Jeez, give me a break.... |
There's an old saying that goes like this ... 'Consider the Source'.
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Where love is, there God is also.
-Mahatma Gandhi |
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