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graduates noisily enjoying a parent-sponsored bash. h e parents hire a truck
and provide a driver so none of the students need to drive. h e kids decorate
their party truck. h en the whooping and hollering grads parade through
their towns from one family home to the next, where parents each host one
stage of the progressive graduation kegger. Just about everyone gets drunk.
But no one lies, and no one dies. While this makes perfect sense to Scandi-
navian parents, it would be a tough sell for American parents.
h is is just one example of prag-
matic harm reduction motivating drug
policy in Europe. In some parts of
Europe, a joint of marijuana causes
about as much excitement as a can of
beer. And the Continent's needle junk-
ies are dealt with by nurses, counselors,
and maintenance clinics more than by
cops, judges, and prisons. (h e Euro-
pean approach to drug policy is covered
in greater length in Chapter 7.)
While there are still intolerant
corners (especially in the East), many
Europeans seem to pride themselves
in an unflappable tolerance. I was
recently at a gay pride parade in Ber-
lin. h e entire gay community was
out, it seemed, doing its l amboyant
best to share their particular love of life. h e streets were lined with tens of
thousands of straight and more conservative Germans. I happened to be
observing from the curb surrounded by what seemed like an entire senior
center out on a i eld trip. I was struck by how all the leather, sex toys, and
delirious mooning from a long line of slow-moving l atbed trucks was seen
simply as entertainment and a celebration of freedom. Try as they might,
all that in-your-face gay hedonism couldn't shock the straight and elderly
crowd of onlookers.
Perhaps Europe's inclination to be tolerant is rooted in the intolerance of
its past. In the 16th century, they were burning Protestants for their beliefs.
In the 18th century, they were drowning women who stepped out of line
as witches. In the 20th century, Nazis were gassing Jews, Gypsies, and gay
Europe takes civil rights to extremes. Even
farm animals are guaranteed certain rights
by law. In 2008, Switzerland granted new
rights to animals, including banning the
use of live bait by fi shermen, the right for
sheep and goats to have at least a visual
contact with their fellows, and a legal right
for pigs to shower after rolling in the mud.
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