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while, in the US, many teens report that it's easier for them to buy marijuana than tobacco
or alcohol—because they don't get carded when buying something illegally.
It's interesting to compare European use to the situation back home, where (in most
states where it's not yet legal) marijuana laws are strictly enforced. According to Pew Re-
search Center statistics, approximately half of all American adults have used marijuana at
some point in their life. Various economists estimate that illegal marijuana is an approx-
imately $100 billion untaxed industry in our country. The FBI reports that almost 50 per-
cent of the roughly 1.8 million annual drug arrests in the US are for marijuana—the vast
majority (88 percent) for simple possession…that means users, not dealers.
Many Dutch people believe that their pot policies have also contributed to the fact that
they have fewer hard drug problems than other countries. The thinking goes like this: A
certain segment of the population will experiment with drugs regardless. The coffeeshop
scene allows people to do this safely, with soft drugs. Police see the coffeeshops as a fire-
wall separating soft drug use from hard drug abuse in their communities. If there is a dan-
gerous chemical being pushed on the streets, for example, the police (with the help of
coffeeshop proprietors) communicate to the drug-taking part of their society via the cof-
feeshops. When considering the so-called “gateway” effect of marijuana, the only change
the police have seen in local heroin use is that the average age of a Dutch needle addict is
getting older. In fact, many people believe marijuana only acts as a “gateway” drug when
it is illegal—because then, young people have no option but to buy it from pushers on the
street, who have an economic incentive to get them hooked on more expensive and ad-
dictive hard drugs.
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