By
Cory Spiller
Editor's Note: Cory Spiller is spending the summer in Paris as part of a UA program.
PARIS - The revolution has begun in Amsterdam. A revolution for civil liberties that ignores the dogmatic and outdated morality that western civilization has been wearing like a pair of blinders for centuries.
I visited Amsterdam last weekend. It was a strange feeling to walk around in a country that has decided to legalize and regulate so many things that the U.S. keeps repressed and pushed into our bad neighborhoods and inner cities, out of sight and out of mind. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was the Dutch had succeeded in creating here. Then it stuck me. It's freedom.
They have legalized marijuana and all natural psychedelic drugs including mushrooms, hallucinogenic cacti and herbal ecstasy. They have legalized prostitution, gambling, and most recently, allowed the usage of assisted suicide. Abortion is not politically threatened and - get this! - the people are free to make moral decisions for themselves.
Do these things scare you? They shouldn't.
In America, they occur more often and in higher quantities. Granted the Netherlands is a small place with a little less than 16,000,000 residents, and America has a bigger problem because it's a bigger place. However, the Netherlands still has a lower percentage of high school marijuana use than does the U.S. - at 18.1 percent compared to our 23.7 percent.
In a country where it is legal for anyone over 18 years of age to smoke marijuana in cafes and on the street, they have a lower marijuana use than our country, a nation that would throw every kid how that's ever smoked a joint in jail if they could. Ridiculous.
Although Amsterdam has made remarkable advances in drug abuse, it still has a problem. Hard drugs - cocaine, heroin and acid, to name a few - are illegal. And after walking for a few hours around Amsterdam, you realize that these drugs aren't difficult to find either. In the three days I was there a half dozen or so men whispered, "I've got heroin and cocaine."
Even though the city does have a problem with hard drugs, the statistics suggest it's not Holland with the problem, but again, the U.S. About 160 of every 100,000 Dutch people are abusers of hard drugs, compared to our 430. And it's not because Americans have a higher affinity to needles. It's because Holland has a better drug policy.
The Dutch drug policy is simple. It is to prevent and limit the damage drug use causes both the individual and the society. It makes sense. By outlawing drugs, the U.S. has created a criminal underworld. Drugs are in demand because people want them, and - guess what? - they're not going to stop wanting them. So the Dutch have given the people access to drugs and they offer assistance with addiction if it is necessary. A Dutch citizen is more likely to seek assistance with their problem because they are not labeled as criminals and social degenerates.
The same idea works with prostitution. In the U.S. - with the exception of the state of Nevada - a person must become a criminal to pay for sex and likewise the person that offers sex for money. People want prostitutes, and - guess what, again? - they are not going to stop wanting them. So we Americans force these people to become criminals, where they have no access to justice or regulation.
In Amsterdam, there are no prostitutes on the street. There are no pimps standing around street corners forcing smack on runaway girls that have no other choice but to accept their protection and reciprocal abuse. The prostitutes in Amsterdam sit proudly in sections of the city that have been reserved for their trade. If they are abused, they go to the police because they have rights - as they should.
It's also interesting to look at the opposite end of the spectrum. Amsterdam, is legally against many things that are perfectly kosher in the U.S., namely handguns and capital punishment. America loves to point out a connection between crime and drugs, yet the U.S. murder rate is more than four times higher than that of the Netherlands. So in America, you're not allowed to have drugs, but if you really want them, you can go to Sports Authority and buy a handgun. Kill someone for his money, and buy your drugs. But if you're caught, we reserve the right to kill you.
We have a lot to learn.
