Pubdate: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 Source: Dominion, The (New Zealand) Copyright: 2001 The Dominion Contact: http://www.dominion.co.nz/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/128 Author: Leah Haines DON'T GO SOFT ON DRUGS Franz Koopmans has firsthand knowledge of how Holland's relaxed drug laws have caused untold suffering among users. Leah Haines reports. THERE'S a hint of the fundamental Christian about Dutch anti-drugs campaigner Frans Koopmans. Like a preacher out to save a soul, his voice booms, eyes gleam and he rarely draws breath as he launches into why Holland's soft stance on drugs is destroying his country's young people. The gangly giant and passionate PR man for one of The Netherlands' biggest residential drug centres has come to New Zealand to try to stop this country from doing the same. Unfortunately for Mr Koopmans, so has his arch-rival Peter Cohen -- a scientist with a much more glamorous message to peddle: legalise it. "I like him, we get along quite good, we talk to each other and we're very polite," Mr Koopmans laughs. "But we certainly differ." Both were putting their messages to a parliamentary committee looking at cannabis law reform last week. Dr Cohen, 60, has spent 20 years researching drug use and argues that drug policies are an expensive waste of time. He says cultural and economic factors drive drug use and he advocates cannabis be regulated and education around its dangers beefed up. But Dr Cohen is dismissed by 30-something Mr Koopmans. He says that though Dr Cohen does a "good job as a sociologist", he is merely a "scientist with the danger of being in an ivory tower". Mr Koopmans has worked for 14 years with drug addicts, "down there in the mud where we see what the use of drugs can add up to". According to him, that equals about 20 young people at any time struggling to get off cannabis at his residential clinic De Hoop (The Hope) near Rotterdam. That's five times as many cannabis addicts as the centre treated 14 years ago. They're brought along by terrified parents who, Mr Koopmans says, have lost their children to apathy, psychological disorders, lung illness and personality changes. He says Dr Cohen's belief that parents are helpless to keep their children off drugs makes him angry. "It's a disastrous idea and leaves parents completely in the dark." Parents, according to Mr Koopmans, are the key to keeping children safe. The rate of cannabis use among young Dutch people has risen from 15 per cent in 1984 -- eight years after the country decriminalised its use -- to 44 per cent today. Mr Koopmans says some of the increase can be put down to the drug's increasing popularity across the world. But while Dr Cohen argues that drug policy -- and parents -- have nothing to do with people's decision to do drugs, Mr Koopmans says they have everything. Young people he interviewed had no idea cannabis had been only decriminalised and was still technically illegal. HE BLAMES the Dutch authorities' soft stance on all drugs and the fact that you can buy cannabis at coffee shops for adding to the confusion. Coffee shops have become the symbol of Dutch drug policies. But Mr Koopmans argues "it was never intended to look like this". There is an "everything goes" mentality in Holland which he says has also seen prostitution and euthanasia legalised and has added to a plethora of social problems. But mayors and other leaders are now recognising that such permissive laws may have gone over the top. Dope-selling coffee shops have almost halved in the past few years. And proponents of pulling back the laws are gathering support. Laws around gambling have been tightened since problems exploded in the 1980s and positive results can already be seen. The same results could also be achieved with the tightening of cannabis laws. Based on the Dutch experience, Mr Koopmans has grim predictions for New Zealand if the Government chooses to decriminalise cannabis. "The Government has a real obligation to look after the public health of people, especially that of young people." Though he hates the term "soft" drugs, Mr Koopmans says when you decriminalise such drugs you get an increase in drug use that will grow over the years. Eventually, it will lead to cases like that of the poster girl for the De Hoop clinic, he says. Thirteen years old, she spent 18 months in the clinic. Her reliance on cannabis had left her unable to cope with stress or anxiety and her parents did not recognise the changes in her. Mr Koopmans says: "I have been there for 14 years and I have never got accustomed to the stories. Every story is unique, and often so terrible." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth