Trouble in Europe's Pot Paradise
“ The drug war basically started at The Hague with the signing of the International Opium Convention of 1912, the world's first international drug control treaty. The pact served as a stepping stone to the eventual establishment of the United Nations and the passage of three stringent drug control treaties that have largely determined international drug policy.” Related: Here's What to Expect at the Big Drug Meeting This Week at the UN
Though the Dutch have struck a compromise with international treaties that shows great results for reducing harm for drug users, the approach has largely shielded problems with drug crime in the Netherlands from public view.
Fighting the illicit drug market now costs the Netherlands roughly $1 billion a year. If the dollar figure were adjusted to reflect the US population, it would be $19 billion — roughly equivalent to NASA's annual budget.
RED ALERT! !! Politicians on planet Earth pass a law prohibiting the first Earthlings on Mars to declare themselves Martians,& all cannabis the free property of all citizens!”
“...people who work in the Dutch weed business can be divided into separate categories."First, the classic criminals who are trying to make a buck any way possible," she said. "Second, the pioneers who love the plant and never saw themselves as doing something wrong, then there are farmers who are trying to find a solution for their business in a bad economy, and then there are the accidental workers who were forced by life or criminals to start growing." “In recent years,” she said [Nicole Maalsté, an independent sociologist, studies the people who work in the country's illicit drug industry] , “government crackdowns have scared off many of the pot enthusiasts while professionalizing the ones that are just in it for the money.” 11 comments READ MORE https://news.vice.com/article/trouble-in-europes-pot-paradise-a-bloody-gang-war-is-raging-in-amsterdam