Pubdate: September 28, 1998
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Author: Ingee Genee

THE LAST DAYS OF THE WAR ON DRUGS

Thank you, Gwynne Dyer, for producing the first balanced account of Dutch
drug policy I have seen in a North American newspaper. I have been upset
many a time by the way Dutch society is pictured in what are supposed to be
the "best" newspapers.

You would think we routinely kill of our senior citizens when they become
troublesome, think of abortion as another type of birth control, wean our
babies on marijuana and earn our pin money sitting behind a window in the
red-light district.

The fact that our statistics in all those areas always prove the pragmatic
Dutch policies to be extremely successful is generally ignored. What a
relief to see an article that actually presents the relevant figures and
represents my country for what it is: one with a highly successful drug
policy that has resulted in one of the lowest rates of hard-drug addiction
in the Western world.

Ingee Genee, Lethbridge, Alberta

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Checked-by: Rolf Ernst