EU Countries Soften Cannabis Policy.

December 8, 2001 8:53 AM

EU Countries Soften Cannabis Policy. This past week, experts and officials from around the EU met in the central Dutch city of Utrecht to exchange views at the European City Conference on Cannabis policy. (From Radio Nederlands)
posted by tpoh.org (9 comments total)

What I find interesting is the slightly snippy tone of the article. It talks about countries "tolerating cannabis abuse." What could that possibly involve? A cop sees someone sitting on a bench, stoned, and doesn't arrest him? Whoo, the sacrifice! It sounds as if the reporter had a real distaste for the subject, and tried to hold back, but just couldn't quite manage to hold back completely.
posted by bingo at 9:20 AM on December 8, 2001

Nope... bingo, 'tolerating' is just a translation of the Dutch word 'gedogen', which is the unofficial official policy in the Netherlands. Nothing snippy about it.
posted by prolific at 9:38 AM on December 8, 2001

bingo:

To me, it seemed the exact opposite. especially the way that the reporter made a clear indication that countries with laxer drug laws/enforcement were 'ahead' of other countries. They kept saying "one step ahead" and "catching up", etc.
posted by delmoi at 11:11 AM on December 8, 2001

prolific:

I was talking about the entire phrase, "tolerating cannabis abuse." It's the combination of "tolerating" and "abuse" that I find snippy. The official Dutch policy is "tolerating" the use of the drug, not the abuse of it. There seemed to be an assumption there that because they are tolerant of the drug, a) it is being abused, and b) they are tolerant of that abuse.
posted by bingo at 11:17 AM on December 8, 2001

I too found the phrase "tolerating cannabis abuse" a bit odd, but put it down to sloppy writing.
posted by esquilax at 11:24 AM on December 8, 2001

I prefer making a distinction between "flaccid" and "turgid" drugs.
posted by sylloge at 7:05 PM on December 8, 2001

Upon first glance, I thought that the FPP title was, "EU Countries Soften Cannibal Policy....Mmmm, Long Pork!
posted by MrBaliHai at 8:12 PM on December 8, 2001

Sounds like blurry vision & the munchies, MrBaliHighHai...heh heh
posted by StOne at 9:57 PM on December 8, 2001

"Britain's top police officers have called for the mass prescription of heroin to addicts on the NHS in a move that will be seen as the decriminalisation of the drug.

The officers believe this radical approach will break the link between addicts and property crime, and allow the police to concentrate on combating major drugs dealers and organised criminals."
posted by mmarcos at 6:36 AM on December 9, 2001