MAPS: Re: The Dutch Lesson

[Michael00X1@xxxxxxxxx (Michael Greene)]

I appreciated the posting of the article by Peter Webster on Dutch drug
policy. In conversations I have with others on American drug policy, I
often get asked, "how would you go about reducing the harm that drugs
cause if they were no longer criminalized." Without any model to follow
I'm left with explaining that each drug would be handled differently
based on different levels of harm, risk, use populations, route of
administration, etc.

So this story is useful, not just in showing the difference in
effectiveness between the two methods of pragmatism and prohibition, but
in the actual way the pragmatic alternative is carried out. What we
never get in the Dutch Lesson is where psychedelics fit into the
picture.

I realize that psychedelics are not associated with addiction and
toxicity - like cocaine, methamphetamine, crack and heroin are, and
therefore they are not addressed as harm reduction issues as such. I
wonder how Dutch harm reduction allows psychedelics to be integrated
into Dutch culture. I'm not so much interested in how psychedelics are
distributed or which substances are available and to what extent.

I'm more interested in how these substances are most often used in Dutch
society (i.e. recreational, therapeutic or in spiritual pursuits) the
conditions in which they are used (i.e. private living rooms, "trip
clinics," the street, individually or in groups), and whether these uses
are accepted as legitimate by Dutch society.

The Dutch experience is the only model available, maybe it could provide
some clues into how to integrate psychedelics into American society. Is
it even possible to reshape cultural bias to accept psychedelics? Or is
this the lesson that Timothy Leary already taught us? Michael


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