‘Save the country, legalise drugs’. Under this striking banner, two former Dutch government ministers (for foreign affairs and health) are launching their revolutionary plan.

They estimate that more than half of all the costs of crime are related to drugs. They argue that by regulating their production and sale and imposing strict government supervision, drug crime will disappear. And they say that would lead to unprecedented savings for the police and judiciary.
 
Former ministers Frits Bolkestein (foreign affairs) and Els Borst (health) want to regulate the sale and production of soft and hard drugs. In an opinion piece in the NRC Handelsblad newspaper, they say this would save approximately 15 billion euros. The piece is signed by a group of prominent politicians and experts.

Building on the drug tolerance policy
The politicians and experts who signed the letter are, in fact, building on the existing Dutch policy of drug tolerance. This regulates the sale of soft drugs and has meant that, for the last 30 years, the possession of small amounts for personal use is not subject to punishment.

Despite this, the use of, and addiction to, soft drugs in the Netherlands is no higher than in other countries. More striking still, it is less than the European average and far below the level of countries with repressive controls such as France.

Inconsistent policy
But the production of soft drugs is not covered by the drug tolerance policy and is thus still largely in the hands of criminals. Illegal cannabis growers are regularly arrested and prosecuted. That makes the Dutch policy of tolerance extremely inconsistent.

Although a majority of parliament has already declared itself in favour of a proposal to regulate and tolerate such production - in 2000 and 2005 - the succeeding coalition governments failed to put the plan into practice.

Revolutionary
What the signatories to the opinion piece are now actually doing is bringing the old plan back into the limelight and adding hard drugs to it. This is, to put it mildly, revolutionary. Because even the tolerance for soft drugs has, in the past few years, come increasingly under fire.

Cisca Joldersma, drugs spokeswoman for the Christian Democrats (CDA) thinks it’s a disastrous plan.

“I really think doing this would bring a country to its knees. I’m also extremely surprised that a prominent VVD member such as Bolkestein has attached his name to it. That he would say: don’t just permit soft drugs, something we in the CDA are also against, but allow hard drugs, too.”

Against the party line
Former government minister and European Commissioner Bolkestein is a member of the conservative VVD party and his proposal also goes against his party line. In the past, the party was for the regulation of soft drug production. But now it opposes it, unless other countries join in too.

Despite this, politicians in The Hague have not greeted the plan with total scepticism. Lea Bouwmeester, spokeswoman for the Labour Party (PvdA) has reacted positively.

“If we want to solve the problems that criminals cause,” she says, “and protect young people ruining their future with drugs, then we have to let go of taboos. We need to take a serious look at the situation and when we’ve done that, then we can make a choice. But now everyone’s stopped thinking and we’re preserving the taboos. That hasn’t improved the situation one bit.”

Don’t wait for other countries
Lea Bouwmeester also thinks we shouldn’t wait for other countries. A regulated drug tolerance policy – one that includes hard drugs – in which use and production remains officially liable to punishment, is not in conflict with the United Nations’ drugs treaty.

But taking the wind out of the criminals’ sails by legalising hard drugs seems an illusion. The production of heroin and cocaine takes place mainly outside the Netherlands. Should the Netherlands then go and lease poppy fields in Afghanistan to regulate the production and take it away from the criminals? No, says Lea Bouwmeester.

“No, it doesn’t mean that. It means you have to look closely at the question of why the criminal trade in soft and hard drugs is so widespread, and how we can call a halt to it. We don’t have a ready-made solution. But it’s a good sign that a number of experts in criminal law are also saying: take a look now at how we can do it another way, because continuing in this fashion is certainly not the right way. Because of that we still have the problems and the crime.”

It’s possible that The Hague is putting itself back in the front line again with such a discussion, given that there are now even voices in the United States calling for the legalisation of drugs. But at a time when the Netherlands is being forced to make harsh spending cuts, such a proposal will always strike close to home with its citizens: it would provide an awful lot of money.