Although cannabis might be bad, a complete prohibition would be the wrong approach, writes the Christian Democrat Gerd Leers in the daily De Volkskrant:
“Naturally underground trade with a officially prohibited but hip substance continues. We know that since the time of Al Capone and the Prohibition in the 1930s in the US.
Hence there is only one solution to lowering consumption: regulation. But then also the regulation of planting and trade.
It would take a long time to convince Europe of this. It would not be impossible, as one sees from the examples of the policies of tolerance in Flanders and the Czech Republic. We are not the only ones facing this problem. In addition, it would not be the first time that the Netherlands would be a pioneer in addressing problems about which everyone would rather remain silent but about which the majority, in the end, is convinced that good regulation would create less damage than either tolerance in secret or nonsensical battles.”
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