Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ferently than we do can help us envision how we might deal with the same
problem more ef ectively. I agree with my Dutch friends, who remind me that
a society has to make a choice: tolerate alternative lifestyles...or build more
prisons. h e Netherlands has made its choice. We're still building more pris-
ons. (My Dutch friends needle me with the fact that only the US and Russia
lock up more than one percent of their citizens, while the average per capita
incarceration rate in Europe is only a tenth the US rate.) I also agree with
New York Mayor LaGuardia. Way back in the 1930s, when it was becom-
ing clear that America's Prohibition on alcohol wasn't working, LaGuardia
said that if a society has a law on the topics that it doesn't intend to enforce
consistently, it erodes respect for all laws in general.
While the Dutch are famously lenient in their marijuana laws, many other
European countries are also progressive on this issue. I've chatted with people
passing a joint as they played backgammon in the shadow of the cathedral
in Bern. h ey told me that marijuana enforcement is stricter in Switzerland
each spring at the start of the travel season, so the country doesn't become
a magnet for the backpacking pot-smoker crowd (an admitted drawback to
the Dutch system). And I've talked with twentysomethings in Copenhagen
rolling a joint on the steps of their city hall, who say they have to be a little
careful because the Danes are required to arrest a couple of pot-smokers
each year in order to maintain favored trade status with the US.
The Swiss Approach to Hard Drugs
Marijuana is one thing. But hard drugs—such as heroin—are another.
And, even as some European countries are liberalizing their approach to
pot, they draw a clear distinction between “soft” and “hard” drugs. Hard
drug abuse—with an estimated
two million problem users—is
a concern in Europe, just as it
is in the US. h ere is no easy
solution. But the pragmatic
European approach—based
on harm reduction rather than
punishment for an immoral
act—appears to have had some
success. Switzerland has been at
the forefront of these ef orts.
If you don't want junkies shooting up in your
toilet, just install blue lights.
