Drugs in the Netherlands

[Adrian II]

Thank you in advance for any perspective you could help provide. Ajax

Hi Ajaxfetish, great assignment you have there. I am not going to debate drug policies with you or anyone else because of the 'been there, done that' factor. But I would love to help you out of course. So I have been looking for some good English language sources.

You are probably aware that this issue is an ideological minefield where most mines are stacked against the Dutch drug policy based on tolerance, individual liberty and emphasis on the health aspects of drugs versus the criminal aspects. Nearly all reading materials must be treated with extreme care, particularly if they pretend to contain the magic bullet that solves all drug problems. Furthermore, no policy or issue can be studied in isolation from the wider context of a country's health and education policies, its type of society (religious, communist, etcetera), its neighbouring countries, international agreements and aggressive propaganda campaigns.

Even UN institutions are highly biased toward the repressive view. The UNODC for instance like to hold up Sweden as a prime example of a repressive drug policy resulting in low substance use. However, if you look at the statistical measures they use, you will find that they refer only to drug use among army conscripts and 15 year old schoolchildren. Hence the promising Swedish statistics.

For that reason I have looked for decent sources that explain the background and motivation for present Dutch drug policy. Treat them with equal care. As always, in the end you will have to judge for yourself.


The American-based Drug Policy Alliance have a decent overview of Dutch policy here. For detailed analyses we have the Dutch Center for Drug Research, subsidized but not overseen by the Dutch Department of Health. They have a nice online English-language library. In particular this article does a nice job of explaining the influential "Baan Commission" report which essentially shaped Dutch policy for decades to come.

Hope this is useful to you.