The Niederlangen have always been proud of their cannabis toleration policy. But the downside has also been apparent for a long time – with dramatic consequences. How politics is now trying to take countermeasures and what Germany can learn from it.
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Thomas Kirchner
Dutch drug policy has long been considered a success story. She seemed to anticipate insights that have been gaining ground around the world in recent years: first, that a distinction should be made between hard and soft drugs, that is, heroin and cannabis should not be equated. And secondly, that the problem of drug abuse cannot be solved in the long term with repression alone. If you walk through Amsterdam’s hemp clouds, you might think that the legal joint has been there for a long time. Haven’t the Dutch been practicing for decades what is now the case in Canada, parts of the USA, Uruguay and Malta?