Pubdate: Mon, 11 Feb 2008
Source: Manila Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2008, The Manila Times
Contact:  http://www.manilatimes.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/921
Author: Katrice R, Jalbuena

EDUCATION KEY TO EFFECTIVE ILLICIT-DRUG POLICY - ENVOY

Making drug use a crime is no guarantee that there will  be fewer drug
users, an envoy said.

"By making something taboo, you make it more  attractive," said Dutch
ambassador to the Philippines,  Richard Brinks, in an exclusive
roundtable interview  with The Manila Times recently. "Repressive
policies  just make people more curious."

To stress his point, he said last year there were  around 17,000 drug
users in The Netherlands, country  known for its permissive attitude
toward the so-called  soft drugs. Despite the easy availability of
marijuana,  hashish and other "mild" drugs in coffee shops, drug
related crime is almost unheard off.

Making these substances available--and  legal--eliminates the need for
addicts to steal or  perpetrate crimes to support their drug habits,
Brinks  explained.

The Dutch government draws the line on "hard drugs,"  though, he
added.

An establishment found selling hard drugs immediately  loses its
license, as the government keeps a tight  watch over those shops.

"There is a zero tolerance policy for hard drugs,"  Brinks said. "It
is hard drugs and hard drug users that  present a danger to public
security, that we spend  money to ensure through the legal system are
kept off  the street."

In The Netherlands, soft drug users are considered not  as criminals
but as patients with health problems, the  envoy said. Drug users are
not so different from  cigarette smokers or consumers of alcoholic
drinks, and  like chain smokers or alcoholics, those who abuse drugs
are offered medical treatment by the Dutch government.  The
authorities there keep tabs on the soft drug users  in the country and
offer them health services,  including clean needles and paying for
anti-addiction  treatments for those who want to kick the habit.

"I am proud of our drug policy," Brinks said. "Why pay  through the
nose to put soft drug users in prison? They  don't present a danger to
public security. Let's  concentrate on the hard-drug users."

Despite the openness about drug use, the ambassador  told The Times
that the number of users and of coffee  houses selling soft drugs in
the country are actually  decreasing. Plus, there are very few
recorded deaths by  overdose, with only 30 victims last year. Most of
those  who died of overdose were not Dutch, rather foreigners  who
were likely overwhelmed by The Netherlands' liberal  society.

"I think one reason why we have less drug users and  also less
drug-related deaths is because the Dutch are  very well informed about
drug use," Brinks said. "No  one ODs [overdoses] by accident, because
they know how  to use drugs safely."

Drug education is part of the public-education system  in The
Netherlands. Children are taught about the  variety of drugs they
might see on the streets and  their effects on the mind and body.

"If you hide it away, you just make them more curious,"  Brinks
explained, referring to children. "The  possibilities that they're
going to experiment are  great anyway, but at least this way they
don't do it  recklessly in a back alley somewhere."

"And we don't make it glamorous," he added. "We don't  have a stuffy
official from the Health Department  giving a lecture. We get a dealer
from the street to  visit the public classrooms to show everything
they  have and explain what they're supposed to do and how  you're
supposed to use it."

The "scruffy guy from the street" allegedly has a  de-glamorizing
effect on drug use as it shows the  children how they could end up,
the envoy said.

"It's like showing pictures of diseased lungs to a  smoker," Brinks
said. "We're just teaching them what  the risks are, because they're
going to experiment  anyhow. We want to make sure the number of deaths
is  zero."
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MAP posted-by: Derek