HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0102.009 2000-2002 FACtberlc'ihe Netherlands and the United States http I/www drugwarfacts org/thenethe htm
Drug War
FACTS
The Netherlands and the United States:
1. The Netherlands follows a policy of separating the market for
illicit drugs. Cannabis is primarily purchased through coffee
shops. Coffee shops offer no or few possibilities for purchasing
illicit drugs other than cannabis. Thus The Netherlands achieve
a separation of the soft drug market from the hard drugs market
- and separation of the 'acceptable risk' drug user from the
'unacceptable risk' drug user.
Source: Abraham, Mama D ,University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug
Research, Places of Drug Purchase fn The Netherlands (Amsterdam
University of Amsterdam, September 1999), pp. 1-5
2. Comparing Important Drug and Violence Indicators
jSocfalIndfcator Years USA Nether erlands
Lffetfine prevalence of marf~uana use (ages 12+)'1998 vs 199"r 33%1 15 6%2 ~Z
Past month prevalence of marquana use (ages 1998 vs 1997 j5%3 2 5%a
I12+)
Lffetfine prevalence of heroin use (ages 12+) 1998 vs 1997 it 1%5 0 3%s ; ~/j
;Incarceration Rate per 100,000 populatfon 1997 vs 1996 645' j77 3s Y~
Pe
acrPe
pfta spending on drug-related law• 1997 vs 1995gg19 $2710 t/
enforcement 1 Tj
Homicide rate per 100,000 populatfon 1995 vs 1995;811 ;1 8f2 - r~
Source 1: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1998 (Washington, DC• US
Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), pp 18, 24
Source 2: Abraham, Mama D., Cohen, Peter D.A., van Tfl, Roelf-Jan, and
de Winter, Martelle A.L., University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug •S o
Research, Licit and Illicit Drug Use in the Netherlands, 1997
(Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam. September 1999), pp. 39, 45. IV
• o
Source 3: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance x
Qom'! ~
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Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings 1998 (Washington, DC: US
Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), pp. 18, 24
Source 4: Abraham, Mama D ,Cohen, Peter D.A., van T>1, Roelf--Jan, and
de Winter, Marielle A L .University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug
Research, Licit and Illicit Drug Use In the Netherlands, 1997
(Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam, September 1999), pp. 39, 47
Source 5• US Department of I~ealth and Human Services, Substance
Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Household
Survey on Drug Abuse• Main Findings 1998 (Washington, DC: US
Department of Health and Human Services, March 2000), pp. 24, 62.
Source 6. Abraham, Mama D ,Cohen. Peter D A ,van T>1, Roelf-Jan, and
de Winter, Mar>elle A.L , University of Amsterdam, Centre for Drug
Research, Licit and Illicit Drug Use in the Netherlands, 1997
(Amsterdam• University of Amsterdam, September 1999), pp. 40, 45
Source 7. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Based on total U.S population in
1997 of 267,636,000 as per the L" S Census Bureau.
Source 8• According to the Dutch Bureau of Statistics, CBS Voorburg, as
of September 30, 1996 the Netherlands had 11,931 prisoners with an
approximate population of 15,424,122. This data was provided by a
statistician at CBS Voorburg and obtained from Statistics Netherlands:
Statistical Yearbook 1998, p 434, table 53.
Source 9: Office of National Drug Control Policy, National Drug Control
Strategy, 1997 Budget Summary, Washington DC U S Government
Panting Office (1997); MacCoun, R. & Reuter, P., "Interpreting Dutch
Cannabis Policy: Reasoning by Analogy in the Legalization Debate,"
Science, 278. 47 (1997); Based on total U.S population in 1997 of
267,636,000 as per U.S Census Bureau
Source 10: Drug-related law enforcement spending in the Netherlands in
1995 is estimated at 640 million Dutch gliders according to the Dutch
Justice Department
Source 11 • The FBI reported that the homicide rate in 1995 was 8 per
100,000 people, for a total of 21,597 homicides (Uniform Crime Reports:
Dept of Justice Press Release, Oct 13, 1996)
Source 12. In both 1995 and 1996. the Netherlands recorded 273
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homicides, which is a homicide rate of 1 8 persons per 100,000
inhabitants. (Registered Murders in the Netherlands, Press Release,
CBS Voorburg - Stat>stics Netherlands, 7/14/98).
3. "There were 2.4 drug-related deaths per million inhabitants in '
the Netherlands in 1995. In France this figure was 9.5, in
Germany 20, in Sweden 23.5 and in Spain 27.1. According to the
1995 report of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and
Drug Addiction in Lisbon, the Dutch figures are the lowest in
Europe. The Dutch AIDS prevention programme was equally
successful. Europe-wide, an average of 39.2% of AIDS victims are
intravenous drug-users. In the Netherlands, this percentage is as
low as 10.5°/a:'
Source• Netherlands Ministry of Justice, Fact Sheet: Dutch Drugs Policy,
(Utrecht Tr>mbos Institute, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and
Addiction, 1999), from the Netherlands Justice Ministry website at
4. '"The number of addicts in the Netherlands has been stable - at
25,000 -for many years. Expressed as a percentage of the
population, this number is approximately the same as in
Germany, Sweden and Belgium. There are very few young heroin
addicts in the Netherlands, largely thanks to the policy of
separating the users markets for hard and soft drugs. The
average age of heroin addicts is now 36:'
Source: Netherlands Ministry of Justice, Fact Sheet: Dutch Drugs Policy,
(Utrecht: Trimbos Institute, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and
Addiction, 1999), from the Netherlands Justice Ministry webs>te at
5. "Cannabis use among young people has also increased in most
Western European countries and in the US. The rate of
(cannabis) use among young people in the US is much higher
than in the Netherlands, and Great Britain and Ireland also have
relatively larger numbers of school students who use cannabis."
Source: Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Drug Policy
in the Netherlands: Progress Report September 1997-September 1999,
(The Hague: Ministry of Health. Welfare and Sport, November 1999), p.
7
6. "The figures for cannabis use among the general population
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Fectbook The Netherlands and the United States http //wwa• drugwarfacts org/thenethe htm
reveal the same pictures. The Netherlands does not differ greatly
from other European countries. In contrast, a comparison with
the US shows a striking difference in this area: 32.9% of
Americans aged 12 and above have experience with cannabis and
5.1% have used in the past month. These figures are twice as high
as those in the Netherlands."
Source' Netherlands 1~'I>nlstry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Drug Policy
1n the Netherland•~ Progress Report September 1997-September 1999.
(The I-Iagne Ministry of Health, ~~'elfal•r and Sport, November ]999), pp
7-R
7. "The prevalence figures for cocaine use in the Netherlands do not
differ greatly from those for other European countries. However,
the discrepancy with the United States is very large. The
percentage of the general population who have used cocaine at
some point is 10.5% in the US, five times higher than in the
Netherlands. The percentage who have used cocaine in the past
month is 0.7°/a in the US, compared with 0.2% in the
Netherlands
Source: Netherlands Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, Drug Pol>cy
in the Netherlands Progress Report September 1997-September 1999,
(The Hague: Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, November 1999), p.
6 The report notes "*The figures quoted >n th>s paragraph for drug use
in the US are taken from the Nat>onal Household Survey 1997.
SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, Washington, DC".
8. According to a report in the British Medical Journal in
September of 2000, "Cannabis use among Dutch schoolchildren
aged 10-18 years has fallen for the first time in 16 years, a
national survey of risk behaviour among 10,000 young people has
shown:'r The story notes that according to 1 ~ I n,ln,~. ; 11
\i1~1~ i~i,l In_~~l• !~~i ~ ilth,in~l \tititt•li~~r,,"about
one in five young people had used cannabis at some point in
their lives but less than a tenth had used it in the previous four
weeks ("current users"):'r
Source: Sheldon, Tony, "Cannabis use falls among Dutch youth," British
Medical Journal (London, England September 16, 2000), vol. 321, p. 655
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