cannabisnews.com: Denmark Gets Serious in Weeding Out Cannabis










  Denmark Gets Serious in Weeding Out Cannabis

Posted by CN Staff on March 29, 2004 at 18:36:01 PT
By Clare MacCarthy  
Source: Financial Times UK 

Inspector Ole Wagner, head of the Copenhagen drug squad, has a logical explanation for the recent rise in the price of a popular local commodity. "The hash market reacts to supply and demand like anything else. It's exactly the same mechanism as for washing powder," he says. But pot, unlike Persil, is illegal in Denmark. The recent market volatility - which saw the street price of hash almost double in March to DKr80 ($13, €10.70, £7.20) a gram - derives from the government's new zero-tolerance policy.
Since its inception in 2001, the liberal-conservative coalition has staged an anti-immigration and anti-crime programme. The anti-drugs stance is only one of a gamut of increasingly draconian measures that include the recent banning of a department of health sex education video for being "explicit".Danish society, the government says, is going to pot. Cannabis use is on the rise, according to a national board of health study. Almost half of all Danes under the age of 45 have tried the drug at some stage - up from 37 per cent a decade ago.But it is the correlation between age, cannabis use and social class that is worrying the government. Cannabis users between the ages of 30 and 44 are more likely to be unemployed. But cannabis use by 16 to 30-year-olds is most prevalent among the higher social classes - the offspring of doctors, lawyers and company directors - coincidentally the centre-right administration's core voters.The youth of today, according to the government, attaches neither stigma nor danger to the recreational use of soft drugs. And this, believes Lene Espersen, Denmark's 38-year-old justice minister, is misguided because a teenager's first puff of marijuana can be the start of a slippery slide into a life of crime. "It's very short-sighted to allow people a little abuse because they often end up being big criminals," she says.Last Friday, three decades of laissez faire came to a close as the government introduced a parliamentary bill detailing tough new penalties for cannabis crimes. Users - who in the past received only a police caution for possession - now face mandatory fines for even the smallest amounts of cannabis. Dealers caught with larger amounts face longer prison sentences and the police will be granted new powers to weed out cannabis use in prisons.Denmark's U-turn on drugs contrasts with policy changes in other developed countries. Britain recently downgraded cannabis in its schedule of illicit drugs, claiming it was pointless to pretend it was as dangerous as heroin or cocaine. Portugal decriminalised marijuana possession in 2001 and Canada has moved in a similar direction.Many Danish cannabis fans are outraged. On Friday, while the new legislation was being put before parliament, several hundred Danes held a noisy protest outside, singing and puffing marijuana joints.The police kept a discreet watch on the "smoke-in" and made no attempt to confiscate the free samples being distributed. "This law goes against Denmark's traditional tolerance. Denmark is the Holland of the north," says Klaus Trier Tuxen, chairman of the Hemp party. His group, which is dedicated to legalising cannabis, intends to stand in the next general election and already claims several hundred members "from millionaires to bums".The impact of Ms Espersen's tough approach ismost keenly felt in Christiania, an oasis of cannabis and counterculture in the heart of the Danish capital. Until a few weeks ago, Christiania, a 34-hectare former army barracks taken over by squatters in 1971, was Copenhagen's second biggest tourist attraction. Its eccentric hotchpotch of cafés, clubs, restaurants and wacky architecture drew busloads of foreign tourists.But Christiania was also home to Europe's largest and most visible hash market, Pusher Street - a cobblestoned alley lined on both sides by market stalls selling cannabis but no harder drugs.Inspector Wagner estimates that Dkr500m worth of cannabis moved through Pusher Street a year. This month, several hundred police raided the place, seized assets and made more than 60 arrests.Like many residents of Christiania, Ole Lykke, a photographer, readily acknowledges that Pusher Street had got out of control. He welcomes its taming.But like others, he is worried about the implications of the zero-tolerance regime. "Prohibition is the same as state subsidies to criminals," he says. Holland's coffee shop culture would suit Denmark better, he believes.Even Inspector Wagner admits he is fighting a losing battle: "It would be naive to think we can annihilate the hash market. As long as there's a buyer there'll be a seller."Complete Title: Users Fume as Denmark Gets Serious in Weeding Out Cannabis Source: Financial Times (UK)Author: Clare MacCarthy Published: March 30, 2004Copyright: The Financial Times Limited 2004Website: http://www.ft.com/Contact: letters.editor ft.comRelated Articles & Web Site:Christiania http://www.christiania.org/ The Hippie City Can Stay http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18492.shtmlGoing Up in Smoke http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18377.shtmlDenmark Enclave Tears Down Hashish Stands http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread18086.shtml

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Comment #8 posted by FoM on June 02, 2004 at 10:34:38 PT
Related Article from United Press International
Denmark To Legitimize Hippie EnclaveCopenhagen, Denmark, Jun. 2 (UPI) -- A 33-year-old hippie commune in Copenhagen called Christiania could soon have an independent committee to oversee its operation, the BBC reported Wednesday.In a law passed Tuesday, several houses built on the site of an old naval fort will be torn down, while an extra 300 houses will be built elsewhere on the site.The commune that attracts leftists and alternative lifestyle-seekers has been tolerated since 1971, and police didn't go there until earlier this year, when a drug raid shut down an estimated $80 million marijuana production ring.Soon after, the government announced it wanted the community shut down, but recanted with Tuesday's compromise measure.Soon, the 1,000 residents will have to pay a fixed rate for utilities such as gas and electricity, much of which they had been using for free.A police spokesman said the illegal drug market that flourished there would not be allowed to develop again in Christiania, one of Copenhagen's most popular tourist attractions.Copyright: 2004 United Press International
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Comment #7 posted by agog on March 30, 2004 at 12:23:19 PT:
Gem of a quote
That ol' photographer sure turned an elegant phrase:"Prohibition is the same as state subsidies to criminals"I'm definitely going to use that one.I'm still...Agog(an unapologetic libertarian veteran)
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Comment #6 posted by Sam Adams on March 30, 2004 at 10:08:29 PT
Critto
I'm sort of a Socialist Libertarian. I'm too much of an environmentalist to ever be a hard-core Libertarian. But I definitely think most of their ideas have merit & I'd like to see more Libertarian politicians & leaders.
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Comment #5 posted by Critto on March 30, 2004 at 05:45:52 PT
LIBERTARIANISM
Sam Adams, are you a libertarian?
Just asking (and seeking libs around the world),In Liberty,
Critto (a libertarian from Poland)
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Comment #4 posted by afterburner on March 30, 2004 at 04:52:47 PT:
Hail, Britannia
"It's very short-sighted to allow people a little abuse because they often end up being big criminals," Lene Espersen, Denmark's 38-year-old justice [parrot], says."All use is abuse, squawk!" Often? Big criminals?"Britain recently downgraded cannabis in its schedule of illicit drugs, claiming it was pointless to pretend it was as dangerous as heroin or cocaine." Johnny P., are you listening? Or are you just rewinding the prohibitionist tape looking for less-worn sound bites?
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Comment #3 posted by kaptinemo on March 30, 2004 at 03:04:19 PT:
But what's happening there has nothing to do
with hash; that's just a convenient excuse. Very powerful commercial forces want the land for 'gentrification' purposes. The hash crackdown is just a handy excuse. It's been mentioned here that the voluntary dismantling of the hash stands the locals did at the beginning of the crackdown would not appease those interests. This is just more proof. Expect the police to really ramp up the harrassment now.
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on March 30, 2004 at 02:34:41 PT:
As usual, the last sentence says it all
And shows the absolute futility of the entire DrugWar:*Even Inspector Wagner admits he is fighting a losing battle: "It would be naive to think we can annihilate the hash market. As long as there's a buyer there'll be a seller."*Now, what was that 'definition of insanity' of insanity again? Oh yes, doing the same thing again and again and expecting a differnt outcome when none is possible.If anything proves that the DrugWar is nought but makework enabling governments to hire otherwise unemployable people, this is it.
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Comment #1 posted by Sam Adams on March 29, 2004 at 19:34:33 PT

Christiania
Great argument for the Libertarian approach - if the government would just BUTT OUT, look what happens. Humanity flowers and prospers. Visitors want to be in Christiania, not some corporate Disneyland.  Big government suppresses humanity's lifeblood - our culture.
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