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InvisibleveggieM

Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,538
Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime
    #6683449 - 03/18/07 12:26 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

March 18, 2007 - usnews.com

Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime
By Thomas K. Grose

Thirty years ago, there were an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 heroin addicts in the Netherlands. Since then, the country's total population has grown by 6 percent. But the number of junkies has remained the same. Few new users have joined their ranks, and theirs is an aging cohort.

There's a popular misconception in the United States that Holland has a permissive attitude toward drugs. It doesn't. Instead, the country has adopted a more pragmatic approach to drug abuse. It still vigorously prosecutes large-scale drug trafficking. But it considers drug users a public-health problem, not a criminal one. Addicts caught stealing or breaking other laws are prosecuted, but they aren't arrested for possession.

"The view is that addiction is a brain disease, and it requires treatment, not incarceration," says Wim van den Brink, a psychiatrist at the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam. That policy makes for a remarkable statistic: About 70 percent of Holland's drug addicts are in treatment programs; only 10 to 15 percent of America's are.

Savings. Does Holland's pragmatism explain why the country's heroin problem has stabilized? Van den Brink admits there's no empirical evidence to back up that conclusion. Yet numerous studies show it's much less expensive to treat abusers than to toss them into prison. A 1994 Rand analysis concluded that for every extra dollar spent on addiction treatment, taxpayers save $7.46 in societal expenses, including the cost of incarceration.

Holland's decriminalization policy also extends to marijuana; Amsterdam's pot-selling coffee shops are infamous. But the logic behind allowing the sale of small amounts of cannabis is to separate the markets for soft and hard drugs, making it less likely that pot smokers will try something worse. Among teens ages 12 through 18, the number of cannabis users in Holland dropped from 11 to 9 percent between 1996 and 2003.

The Netherlands has also tried treating junkies with prescription heroin. A 2005 study found this too saved money because participants stopped committing crimes to support their habits.

The United Kingdom routinely prescribed heroin to addicts from the 1920s to the '60s, and its addict population remained stable at fewer than 2,000. When laws changed in 1971, the legal market gave way to an illegal one, and the addict population has grown to 300,000.

There are also antidrug campaigns in Holland's schools. Harald Wychgel, spokesman for a drug research center, says the messages encourage people to "make fact-based decisions ... though some facts are scary."

Instead of "Just say no," the Dutch message is "Just say 'know.'"

This story appears in the March 26, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.

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InvisibleBridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
Male


Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: veggie]
    #6683878 - 03/18/07 02:26 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

Instead of "Just say no," the Dutch message is "Just say 'know.'"




so true.


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OfflineROX
Traveling...
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Registered: 11/18/06
Posts: 231
Loc: Croatia
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: Bridgeburner]
    #6684072 - 03/18/07 03:27 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

Information and truth, not laws and restrictions.


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~~Goa and psychedelic trance, psychedelic chillout mixes >>> http://www.rox-unreal.net/ <<<

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InvisibleLe_Canard
The Duk Abides


Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 94,392
Loc: Earthfarm 1 Flag
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: veggie]
    #6684534 - 03/18/07 05:36 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

If only the US had as much sense as the Dutch. :frown:

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Offlinewhite_noise
below the water
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Registered: 08/18/05
Posts: 141
Loc: Land of Tim Hortons and S...
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Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: veggie]
    #6684895 - 03/18/07 07:44 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

Well done Netherlands, well done!  :congrats:


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Who Dares, WINS
:cubie::mushroomgrow:Support Free Spore Ring Canada! :mushroomgrow::cubie:

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InvisibleBridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
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Folding@home Statistics
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Posts: 20,010
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: white_noise]
    #6685210 - 03/18/07 09:05 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

this type of evidence will someday be so plain that no country can deny it.


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Offlinededjam
Electro Penguin
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Registered: 12/14/05
Posts: 2,139
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Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: Bridgeburner]
    #6686355 - 03/19/07 07:23 AM (17 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

b0red5tiff said:
this type of evidence will someday be so plain that no country can deny it.




or pushed under the table so far no country can find it.

Id like to think you are right, but current trends show information that goes against the governments stance is rarely recognized. We live in a shady, currupt world...and I dont think its getting better.

Edit: Or I could say nothing will change as long as the USA exists as it does today...law enforcement for the world.

Edited by gopenguins (03/19/07 07:23 AM)

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InvisibleBridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
Male


Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: dedjam]
    #6686467 - 03/19/07 09:02 AM (17 years, 2 months ago)

i believe in people's reason outside USA. there wil always be more non-americans than americans and thus person by person i believe the truth will persevere.


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Offlinededjam
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Registered: 12/14/05
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Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: Bridgeburner]
    #6686487 - 03/19/07 09:11 AM (17 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

b0red5tiff said:
i believe in people's reason outside USA. there wil always be more non-americans than americans and thus person by person i believe the truth will persevere.




The world, as a whole, is far more anti-drug than pro-drug...atleast in the circles of political power.

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InvisibleBridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
Male


Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: dedjam]
    #6686632 - 03/19/07 10:41 AM (17 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

gopenguins said:
Quote:

b0red5tiff said:
i believe in people's reason outside USA. there wil always be more non-americans than americans and thus person by person i believe the truth will persevere.




The world, as a whole, is far more anti-drug than pro-drug...atleast in the circles of political power.




true. but the world is changing.


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OfflineCUBErt
Connoisseur ofHallucination
Male


Registered: 08/24/05
Posts: 1,067
Loc: Southern CA
Last seen: 14 years, 7 months
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: Bridgeburner]
    #6687661 - 03/19/07 03:18 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

The more I read articles like this, the more I wish I could live over there. I'm not just one more American who wants to smoke pot legally, but it just seems the general mood/ideology of this country seems so consistent with mine. Sucess of a country is usually measured in economic terms, but as far as I'm concerned they are the real "winners" in this world.


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-CUBErt
:cubie::levitate::cubie:

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OfflineROX
Traveling...
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Registered: 11/18/06
Posts: 231
Loc: Croatia
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: dedjam]
    #6687840 - 03/19/07 04:10 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

Quote:

gopenguins said:
Quote:

b0red5tiff said:
i believe in people's reason outside USA. there wil always be more non-americans than americans and thus person by person i believe the truth will persevere.




The world, as a whole, is far more anti-drug than pro-drug...atleast in the circles of political power.




True, but there are more of us in the circles of non-politics. Whatever its legal status, people will stil do drugs. Always have, always will.


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~~Goa and psychedelic trance, psychedelic chillout mixes >>> http://www.rox-unreal.net/ <<<

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InvisibleArp
roving mycophagist
 User Gallery

Registered: 04/20/98
Posts: 2,191
Loc: in a van by the river
Re: Abuse as a Disease, Not a Crime [Re: ROX]
    #6692194 - 03/20/07 04:56 PM (17 years, 2 months ago)

excellent article! :thumbup:

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