Why is marijuana legal in Holland but not in America?

Question

And by legal I don't mean medical marijuana.

Answer 1

In the Netherlands, marijuana is not technically legal, but authorities do nothing to enforce the law, and it therefore effectively legal. The Netherlands, starting in the 60s, have some of the most liberal laws with regards to drugs and prostitution, though apparently they take a much harder stance on hard drugs (eg. heroin, cocaine).

The US, among western nations, has some of the most conservative laws. For example, there are only two major industrialized countries where capital punishment is still legal: the US and Japan. In places like Germany, France, Australia, Canada, Spain, and Britain, the death penalty has been eliminated. So too with drugs, the US still insists on fighting the "War on Drugs" (even though it has been largely unsuccessful) as a matter of policy. While marijuana is illegal in most other places, enforcement is even more lax and there has been serious talk of decriminalizing pot in many of these countries. For example, I live in Canada and our Senate (granted, the Canadian Senate is not elected) recommended that pot be decriminalized a few years ago. Such an action would be unheard of in the US, where pot is still upheld as the source of a great myriad of social ills while tobacco and alcohol are taxed pitifully compared to many other Western countries.

Answer 2

I can agree somewhat. I'm from Canada where it's not really legal, but no one really cares about it either (it's kind of in legal limbo here right now... but if you get caught selling it then you are in trouble). I think there are a few reasons it isn't legal in the US, and it probably won't be for a while (at least at the federal leve... there are a few states, including California, that don't mind it all that much).: 1) There is an "us vs. them" mentality at the federal law enforcement level that thinks if you legalize it... then you gave up the fight. I've personally met a handful of these folks at various conferences in the US and Canada that really do see it that way... you can throw all the facts you want at them but at the end of the day they truly do believe if you legalize it... you've given up. 2) It's not as easy as just taxing it and "all will be well". Heck, you can even see that with tobacco products on Indian reservations in CAnada and the US... if the government raises the price beyond it's natural capacity, there will inevitably be a black market for it. If the government does legalize it, they surely wouldn't be able to control it through administrative tools and capacities... nor would they really be able to tax the hell out of it... if they did there would just be an underground market for cheaper marijuana (just like there is now). It's a very easy plant to grow, and if you can make alot of money doing something that isn't all that illegal anymore.... why wouldn't you compete against government prices? I think the lack of ability for the government (or state governments) to control the drug is another driving factor in their reluctance to legalize it. 3) There is still a section of American society that sees it as detrimental to societal health. Alot of folks believe the propaganda they have been spoon fed over the years.... bogus arguments like "buying weed helps terrorists" (well.. don't you think that's becuase you've forced it onto the black market? Despite the fact they can't prove this ridiculous claim if they tried), or "weed just makes you lazy" or even something as outrageous as "marijuana is addictive and causes lung cancer". The point is, there is so much misinformation regarding the drug, that alot of folks think it ought to be illegal. I think until those three main factors change, marijuana will never be fully legal in the US. I think it's more realistic to expect the feds to "de-criminalize" it and then sort out the legal limbo through a series of court cases that follow. That way policy makers can perpetually just pass the problem onto someone else (something they'd much rather do than take it all on). At least that's just my opinion.

Answer 3

Marijuana legalization in the U.S. has been a subject much talked about in and out of our governmental offices. I'm going to try to keep my answer as far away from my opinion as possible, but I tested positive for marijuana on a probationary drug test today and at the moment have many personal opinions on the subject and our government. To begin, our nation is run by power hungery liberals who feel that anything that calls for a personal choice in today's society should be banned immediatly. For example, gay marriage. Or abortion. Also smoking ganja. All of these are prime examples of a simple "Yes, I want to do it," or a "No, I don't want to do it," decision that the government has to take away our right to because a few scandal loving politicians don't agree with it. Well that's 100% pure, grade A bull$#!t. If a woman doesn't want to have a kid at that moment in her life then by God she should be able to not have that kid. If two men or two women are in love with each other and want to make that life-long bond called marriage then they should have that right. Politicians can embark on countless numbers of scandalous journeys across this land of ours but a handfull of bud smoking hippies can't enjoy their herb because someone's too busy paying hookers for sex? Or shooting up heroin in the bathroom before a political debate? I guess i lied at the beginning of my rant. This is all opinion, but anyone in their right mind, whether you agree with smoking marijuana or not, can see that our nation is run by hypocritical antagonists with a love for money, expensive suits and disagreeing with everything "America" stands for. Thank you and God bless.

Answer 4

Because real life is not like kindergarten. You don't get to have something just because someone else has it. If you truly believe it should be legal, when was the last time you spoke to a congressman or senator to find out what you can do to start the process of getting it voted on.

Answer 5

While the Netherlands allows the sale of small amounts of marijuana in coffee shops, it is still illegal to grow marijuana, store it and transport it in the kind of quantities that any popular shop requires.

In December of 2005, the Dutch parliament began debating a proposal to change that by launching a pilot project to regulate marijuana growing. It was the brainchild of the mayor of Maastricht, a city near the German and Belgian borders that is plagued by gangs of smugglers. Proponents argue that legalizing growing will drive out most of the criminal element and boost responsible purveyors.

Even as the United States continues to spend tens of billions of dollars each year fighting a war on drugs that lately has included an increasing number of marijuana arrests, much of Europe and Canada have instead opted to treat drug use as a public-health problem.

While no country has gone as far as the Netherlands and allowed open sales of marijuana, in most of Europe possession of small amounts of cannabis, and even cocaine and heroin, merits only a fine. Penalties for drug dealing are far lower than in the United States.

Rejecting the approach that has filled America’s jails with nonviolent drug offenders, Europeans and Canadians have embraced the concept of “harm reduction,” which argues that illegal drug use is impossible to stamp out, and therefore the best public policy is to minimize the damage to society.

But the Dutch coffee-shop policy is grounded in a belief that is anathema to American drug enforcers: that cannabis is no more harmful than alcohol. Dutch experts argue that this remains true even though much of the marijuana grown these days is far more potent than the kind smoked by the flower children of the 1960s.

American officials have long sought to discredit Europe’s more liberal drug policies, and the Dutch experience in particular, sometimes with a selective use of statistics.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, for example, takes aim in an anti-legalization paper on its Web site under a subheading, “Europe’s More Liberal Drug Policies Are Not the Right Model for America.”

Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics

US Government and Law enforcement officials have a long record of lying about drug use in the Netherlands.The agency points out that from 1984 to 1996, marijuana use doubled among 18- to 25-year-olds in Holland. What it doesn’t say is that marijuana use in the Netherlands has been stable since then, and it remains lower than in the United States, which has seen use rise from a low in 1992.

Indeed, 30 years after the Netherlands began allowing open marijuana sales, only about 3 percent of the Dutch population ? or 408,000 people ? use marijuana in a given year, compared with 8.6 percent ? or 25.5 million ? of Americans, according to the most authoritative surveys by both governments.

Dutch health officials say there is no evidence that the country’s tolerant marijuana policy encourages use of harder drugs, which here is about average compared with the rest of Europe, and far lower than in the United States. To the contrary, proponents argue, the policy is designed to separate hard drugs from soft, because coffee shops found selling hard drugs are shut down.

In the United States, meanwhile, the war on drugs has increasingly become a war on pot.

A study of FBI data released last year by a Washington-based think tank, the Sentencing Project, found that between 1992 and 2002, marijuana arrests rose from 28 percent of all drug arrests to 45 percent, while the proportion of heroin and cocaine cases dropped from 55 percent of all drug arrests to fewer than 30 percent.

The rationale behind such a crackdown mystifies Dutch cannabis aficionados such as Wilhelm. He doesn’t argue that marijuana is harmless. But he sees every day that it can be enjoyed recreationally and responsibly, just like alcohol.

Answer 6

It's legal or at least decriminalized in every "civilized" country except the US. In other countries, even for other drugs, they don't put them in jail....they put them in rehab. As a victim of violent crime, I wish they would keep the violent people in jail & let the pot-heads out.

Answer 7

I acutally think America is one of the ONLY places where it's not legal.

Answer 8

Different set of laws. The US mainly got it ban as an racist act against the Mexicans.

Answer 9

Because our government is full of retards. Like pot is "harmful" and "addictive". You know cause smoking and drinking isn't...oh wait silly me it is. Maybe government retards got made fun of by pot heads who knows?