cannabisnews.com: Editorial: Drive-Thru Highs Editorial: Drive-Thru Highs Posted by FoM on May 09, 2001 at 10:55:42 PT Feature Editorial Source: Wall Street Journal Take a trip to Venlo, Holland, the world's dopiest city. Dude! That--or whatever is said these days simultaneously to express surprise, approval and joy--is one way to react to news that the town of Venlo, Holland, will soon be licensing drive-thru pot shops. Venlo, according to reports, is overflowing with drug tourists (most of them from nearby Germany) whose needs can no longer be met by its five licensed marijuana- and hashish-selling "coffee shops." So the idea is to set up these drive-thrus just outside the city limits, cater efficiently to the clientele, and see them off on their merry way. Simplicity itself, right? More like stupidity itself. But this gets us on the subject of drug legalization, about which the editorial position of this newspaper is tres uncool. Read on. As it turns out, in conceiving the idea of the drive-thrus, the city fathers of Venlo were not just adjusting supply to demand. Rather, says town spokeswoman Tamira Hankman, they were responding to "an environment that generally makes ordinary people feel unsafe." That means not only raffish drug tourists, but what these tourists bring in their wake: dealers peddling harder drugs, burglars, prostitutes, pimps and violent criminals. The hope is that the drive-thrus will, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, draw all the rats out of town. But the story of the Pied Piper does not have a happy ending and neither, we suspect, will this one. Recall that the piper ultimately got rid of the rats by leading them to the river where they drowned. Presumably the Venlo city council does not propose to do the same with the drug tourists, meaning (at best) that they'll simply move into somebody else's backyard. Recall, too, that the piper, in revenge for having not been paid, piped the town's children to the mountain, from which they were never heard from again. We won't abuse this fable any longer except to note that the Netherlands registered a 250% increase in adolescent marijuana use following the liberalization of its drug laws in the 1980s. With the Venlo scheme, any teenager who can see above the dashboard of daddy's car may purchase drugs without much being done to verify his age. We only hope it won't occur to the boys and girls to get high on the road and forget to buckle their seatbelts. Nor is the Venlo plan likely to get rid of the town's really criminal types. Those who frequent Venlo to get the harder stuff will keep coming, since they probably already know a dealer and don't want to go through the hassle of finding a new one elsewhere. And what's to keep the drive-thru customers from buying drugs and then coming to town? From what we can tell, the Venlo plan makes no provision for a drawbridge and moat. Defenders of current drug laws in Holland argue that the social problems associated with liberalization are the fault of outsiders who abuse the system, not the Dutch themselves. Thus the vast increases in heroin addiction, property crime, gun-related deaths, organized criminal activity, and the consequent need for one of the largest police forces in the world--all that, it's argued, could be solved if every other country in the world adopted enlightened Dutch ways. Maybe. But until the rest of the world goes Dutch, the Dutch will have a problem. Legalization may reduce the incentive for drug-related crime, but it also vastly increases the number of users, a significant point given that 80% of violent crime in the U.S. is committed by people under the influence of some form of intoxicant. And this is all the more true if only marijuana is decriminalized, as the consequences of looser social restrictions and more drug-influenced behavior are not even partly offset by a decrease in heroin- and cocaine-use-related crime. In fact, the more we think about it, the more it seems to us that the drive-thru idea is so dumb it could only have occurred to someone completely stoned. We trust the good citizens of Venlo are sober enough to notice. Source: Wall Street Journal (US) Published: May 9, 2001Copyright: 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Contact: letter.editor wsj.com Website: http://www.wsj.com/ Related Articles & Web Site:Amsterdam Coffee Shop Directoryhttp://www.coffeeshop.freeuk.com/Dutch Look To Drive-Thru Drug Shopshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9566.shtmlAmsterdam's Smokin' Coffee Shops http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8031.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #9 posted by kaptinemo on May 10, 2001 at 07:36:48 PT: They miss the point, again You would think that a rag that presumes to speak for the financial world would take extraordinary pains to be careful in presenting the facts.Yet we are regaled with...this.Having been in the (lovely old) cities of Amsterdam, Breda and Maastricht (Ik hou van deze stasten, en Ik will come eens terug!) I can verify for a fact that there is an incredible amount of cross border traffic, especially through Noord Brabant and Limburg Provinces, by Europeans from less enlightened countries seeking cannabis. Unfortunately, some are seeking much less safe and more deleterious drugs as well. Which is why the Dutch are trying this method.The Dutch have had enormous success in driving a wedge between their populace and hard drugs. Not through knuggledragging brute force, but through a combination of education and social policies. Their success has proven to be such that the rest of Europe is de facto going decrim, more or less following the Dutch model.But the Dutch understandably don't want that success sullied by hordes of foreign and domestic hard drug dealers seeking to tempt cannabis users to harder stuff invading their towns. Not after they have been effectively banished courtesy of this policy. Hence this attempt to circumvent the conditions which would lead to that kind of 'opportunity' presenting itself. By maintaining direct contact with the cannabis consumer, the Dutch governemnt is looking out for the safety of it's own citizens and that of it's 'guests'. Pity the same can't be said of the US government's public safety policies towards it's own citizens. Citizens like Alberto Sepulveda, Esequiel Hernandez, Donald Scott, etc. who now enjoy the safety...of the grave.Typical Dutch pragmatism winning out over Neanderthalenic low-brow, knuckledragging Amerikan hypocritical moralism. You'd think a rag like the WSJ could admire such pragmatism, seeing as it is continually railing against any and all governemnt impediments to 'free trade'.But then, the Dutch have had far more experience at dealing with matters of trade than the relatively upstart WSJ. Like, several centuries worth. They know what works, and what doesn't and aren't blinded by ideology and prevented from implementing the latter.We all, especially the savants at the WSJ, could certainly learn from the experience. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by Not To Worry on May 09, 2001 at 19:50:16 PT 250%????? the Netherlands registered a 250% increase in adolescent marijuana use following the liberalization of its drug laws in the 1980s.ObseverDon't believe this undocumented "fact" for a second. It is probably way off, however, the Dutch for a short time, had a 16 year age limit for coffee shops. After a short time they changed it to 18. Presently their youth use rates are slightly below ours. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Greg on May 09, 2001 at 14:08:55 PT: brokers and others on Wall St I would like to comment on the EXCELLENT posts you all are putting out here in response to this article! I would like to ask the author of the WSJ article if he/she is aware of the rampant drug use (namely cocaine and other stimulants) that are considered "tres cool" with the stock brokers and others in the Wall St circle (he would be so lucky if they all only smoke marijuana!). I am sure that while some of these corpulent prohibitionists are railing against marijuana and harder drugs, they are probably relaxing with a cocktail in one hand and a cigar/cigarette in the other. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Jaime on May 09, 2001 at 13:31:22 PT One thing he forgot to mention One thing that the writer of this article fails to mention is that the drive-thru shops were set up to meet the insatiable demands of German tourists. Isn't Cannabis (ahem) *prohibited* in Germany? Venlo was chosen because of its close proximity to the German border. I love how prohibitionists will create their own "facts" to support their untenable positions.Hey, don't take my word for it though, check out the CNN article regarding Venlo: http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/05/01/dutch.drugshops/index.html [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by jAHn on May 09, 2001 at 13:20:19 PT All of this Mumbo Jumbo... ...is more than likely from a Stock-Broker who owns stock in Clorox or Tide. Or maybe even a Violent Hockey team! Get off it you Wall Street Dumbos! Sell your Sh*t to someone who's Interested! On second thought, maybe they have stock invested in Asscar Racing? Ever see ALL of those "little stickers" Wrapped onto that piece of sh*t Speed Machine? The steel industry is A Propagator of Failure!!!Anything, and I mean ANYTHING that the Steele industry creates- BREAKS or becomes corrosive! The paper industry (International Paper) makes the Crappiest paper to draw on, and that, TOO becomes Brittle faster than Hemp paper!!! Can you think about the word Conspiracy for a second? Next, can you think about Alcohol Prohibition and HOW LONG IT LASTED??? Puritans can't Invent and Propagate Goodness, If they Tried their Entire lives to do so! Anything that's been out to the consumers within the last 200 years has been quickly taken and spit-out from the market. If only we could grow hemp, HERE, in America!Why can ANY other country do it besides us? Can you think about that word, "Conspiracy" again?I'm gonna Set every Wall Street "Journal(more like a fu**ing CHilds' book" on fire in spite of this ""Maddog-like Propaganda!" [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Cuzn Buzz on May 09, 2001 at 12:43:54 PT: SUE THE B*$T*RD$ The Dutch government should file suit against the Wall Street Urinal for this tripe. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by drfist on May 09, 2001 at 12:22:15 PT Venlo! We should be so lucky I was there this summer and in other Dutch towns and coffee shops, We should be so lucky!! Clean, frendly, safe, no problems, too much business is not a problem for the Dutch.Just absurd lies in the WSJ.The Dutch already fought and died to resist the Nazis, they have a right to freedom from fascism,I hope try set up pot supermarkets on every border. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by observer on May 09, 2001 at 11:46:34 PT WSJ Term For Cannabis Users: ''Rats'' The hope is that the drive-thrus will, like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, draw all the rats out of town. . . . Recall that the piper ultimately got rid of the rats by leading them to the river where they drowned. Presumably the Venlo city council does not propose to do the same with the drug tourists . . . Though, if drug users were lined up and shot into some ditch by government, we'd hardly expect the Wall Street Journal to make a peep in protest, would we? . . . As with Nazi actions against Jews, drug warrior actions against users are made more palatable through rhetoric portraying victims as nonhuman. "We will not tolerate those who sell drugs and those who use drugs," said President Reagan. "All Americans of good will are determined to stamp out those parasites."127 "We are talking scum here," a drug cop told one reporter, "Air should be illegal if they breathe it."128 "One 'reality'-based crime program (Night Beat, WNYW-TV, 12/92) took us to a police briefing, where the chief of a narcotics unit on camera tells his assembled officers -- not once but twice -- 'Remember, you are dealing with the scum of the earth.'"129 One researcher of police attitudes found that "when confronted with the violence they sometimes inflict [against drug offenders], they justify themselves by asserting that their victims are not really human: 'they're scum,' 'they can't feel pain,' and so forth."130 One official described prisoners under his command: "Those aren't people -- they have to be treated quite differently."131 Such an attitude can be deadly, as demonstrated by the source of that particular description, an SS murderer.Richard L Miller, Drug Warriors and their Prey, 1996, pgs.23-24http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275950425 . . . draw all the rats out of town. . . . rid of the rats by leading them to the river where they drowned. . . . the same with the drug tourists . . . Hitler's rabid antisemitism was not a sideshow designed to attract believers and distract others from the main event -- his insatiable desire for power and world dominance. On the contrary, racism was at the heart of Nazi ideology. The supremacy of the Aryan race went hand in hand with the restoration of Germany to world power. Hitler railed against the Jews. To him, they were vile, subhuman, filth, vermin, "a cancer on the body of the nation." He called on the populace to wage war against them.Holocaust Almanac: The Political Climatehttp://www.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/f/fogelman.eva/climate.001Legalization may reduce the incentive for drug-related crime, but it also vastly increases the number of users, a significant point given that 80% of violent crime in the U.S. is committed by people under the influence of some form of intoxicant. Notice how the WSJ drifts from to not jailing people for using cannabis (cannabis being what is sold at the shops in question), to the bogeyman of "legalization" (which the Dutch haven't done). From that base a sortie is launched to another "fact", namely: "that 80% of violent crime in the U.S. is committed by people under the influence of some form of intoxicant." More reefer madness; although the propagandist tries to make this transition from cannabis to all forms of any type of "intoxicant" seem natural, cannabis does not cause violence. Alcohol does that.Does Cannabis cause Violence?http://lightning.prohosting.com/~mlo/violence.htmlCannabis Helps Keep Fans Calmhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/6/thread6051.shtmlFans Too Relaxed for Fightshttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/6/thread6056.shtml the Netherlands registered a 250% increase in adolescent marijuana use following the liberalization of its drug laws in the 1980s.Don't believe this undocumented "fact" for a second.see what the Dutch Government says, instead:http://www.netherlands-embassy.org/c_drugstat.html In fact, the more we think about it, the more it seems to us that the drive-thru idea is so dumb it could only have occurred to someone completely stoned. A really pitiful attempted smear-job. (Par for the course at the WSJ.)So typical: when a prohibitionist can't think of any logical response to defend himself, the prohibitionist accuses those who may disagree of being intoxicated. To attack or challenge existing policies has opened one up for charges ranging from a lack of patriotism to charges that the critic is himself part of the international drug conspiracy.Themes in Chemical Prohibition, NIDA, 1979http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/ticp.htmlLet's face it: the prohibitonist is defending tyranny against freedom every time. Not an enviable position. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo, MD on May 09, 2001 at 11:09:23 PT: Where is the Accountability? I hope that some Dutch official reads this and lambastes this filthy set of damnable anonymous lies. Perhaps we need to make it illegal in this country for a newspaper to publish unsigned editorials. Someone who has this much power over the opinions of readers has a responsibility to identify themselves, and be available for rebuttal. Naturally, this will never happen. In a bygone era, the likes of this slack-jawed troglodyte would be stoned on the street, and I mean the old fashioned way! [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: