Facts And Figures About Drugs Essay, Research Paper

AMSTERDAM: FACTS AND FIGURES

13. Drugs

The Amsterdam policy on drugs is a purely pragmatic one. The capital has a

population of more than 700,000, including approximately 6,200 hard drug

users. The policy is mainly focused on discouraging the use of hard drugs and

combating the drug trade. In addition, every effort is made to restrict the

risks run by addicts themselves and the drug-related problems they confront

the rest of society with. In the Amsterdam policy on drugs, a distinction is

drawn between hard drugs and soft drugs. About 1,500 of the 6,200 hard drug

users are from Surinam, the Netherlands Antilles and Morocco, and about 2,000

are from other countries in Europe, mainly Germany, Italy and England. The

number of drug addicts is now on the decrease. The average age of the addicts

has risen in recent years from 26.8 in 1981 to 32.3 in 1990. In the same

period, the percentage of drug addicts under the age of 22 fell from 14.4 to

2.5%.

Policy of Discouragement With respect to the use of drugs, Amsterdam adheres

to a policy of discouragement. Active efforts are made to combat the drug

trade. The Narcotics Brigade of the Amsterdam Police has doubled its staff in

the past few years. This discouragement also takes place by way of an

intensive information campaign on the effects and risks of drug use. The

policy of discouragement means that the police take an extremely intensive

line of action in dealing with drug addicts who commit crimes. In recent

years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of policemen assigned to

combat drug-related crime. The attitude of the Amsterdam authorities to drug

addicts from abroad has been part of the discouragement policy. Foreigners do

not have access to the assistance programmes Amsterdam has set up for its own

drug addicts.

Hard Drugs and Soft Drugs

The Dutch policy on drugs differs in a number of ways from the policies of

other countries. One of these differences is the distinction drawn here

between hard and soft drugs. Ever since 1978, this difference has been

stipulated by law: the possession of hard drugs is a felony and the possession

of a small quantity of soft drugs is a misdemeanour. “A small quantity of soft

drugs” means a maximum of thirty grams. Amsterdam has approximately a hundred

coffee shops and other public places where soft drugs are – illegally – bought

and sold. Soft drug prevention does not have a high priority, but if there is

a quantity of more than thirty grams of soft drugs in a coffee shop or some

other public place, or if hard drugs are sold or there are disturbances of the

peace, the police will immediately have the premises closed down. There is an

extremely intensive check on places of this kind. As a result of this policy,

a distinction has developed between the soft drug trade and the hard drug

trade. The soft drug trade had thus been “decriminalized.n Studies have shown

that very few users go from soft drugs to hard drugs.

Assistance Programmes

A number of assistance programmes have been developed for addicts. The most

widely known one is the methadon programme. In two mobile dispensaries and a

number of stationary ones, drug addicts receive a daily dose of methadon.

Every day, the mobile dispensaries drive to a number of fixed spots in the

city. By providing addicts with methadon, the Municipal Medical and Public

Health Department can have regular contact with them. This makes it possible

to give the addicts certain useful information and, if they so wish, to offer

them further help. This “further help” includes drug rehabilitation programmes

and social work facilities. The methadon enables drug addicts to continue to

function within society in a more or less normal fashion. The use of the same

injection needle by various addicts can lead to the spread of AIDS and

hepatitis B. In order to prevent this, there are eleven sites in Amsterdam

where addicts can exchange used needles for new ones free of charge. In the

recent past, more than 1,000,000 needles have been exchanged this way every

year. This “needle exchange” has been set up on the request of organizations

that promote the interests of drug users. A survey has indicated that it has

not led to any increase in this form of drug use. In Amsterdam, only 30% of

the addicts take drugs intravenously. Most of them prefer “the Chinese way,”

i.e. sniffing.

Street Junkie Project

There are about 400 “extremely problematic” drug addicts in Amsterdam. In

general they are homeless and have no legal source of income. Most of them

live in the city centre. Many of them see to their daily needs by stealing and

disturb the people of the neighbourhood in any.number of ways. In an effort to

alleviate this problem, the “street junkie project” was set up. Criminal drug

users who have been arrested five or more times within a short period of time

are given a choice. They can either do a non-suspended sentence for all the

crimes they have committed or they can sign up for a drug rehabilitation

programme, which they then have to complete. The project, which was set up in

close conjunction with the national authorities, started at the beginning of

1989. By the end of 1989, it is to be totally operational and forty extra

cells and sixteen beds at a drug rehabilitation clinic (Jellinek) are to be

available.

Foreign Addicts

There are about 2,000 foreign hard drug addicts living in Amsterdam. In the

past few years, Dutch authorities and various social work agencies have

established contact with the authorities in other European countries with

respect to this point. The aim of this contact is to develop assistance

programmes so that foreign drug addicts can return to their own countries and

get the help they need there. The agreements made in this connection only

pertain to drug users who have not committed any crime in the Netherlands. If

they have, they are deported. The transfer of deported drug addicts takes

place in close cooperation with the authorities of other European countries.

As a result of these measures and the discouragement policy in Amsterdam, the

Dutch capital is no longer a Mecca for the drug users of Europe. This news is

gradually spreading to foreign drug users.

Results

The Amsterdam policy on drugs has enabled medical and social agencies to

establish contact with approximately 85% of all the drug addicts in the city.

The number of drug addicts infected with Aids or hepatitis B is much lower

than in other European and North American cities. Compared with other large

cities in Europe and North America, the drug addicts of Amsterdam are not

responsible for large-scale crime. There is a growing desire among them to

stop using drugs. Calculating over a longer period of time, the number of

addicts in Amsterdam is declining. The reduction in the number of young

addicts has been the most striking.