Mayor proposes regulated cocaine market
Hard drugs such as cocaine and Ecstasy should be regulated, according to the mayor of Amsterdam, who believes this is the only way to defeat narco-trafficking and its “disastrous” effect on the city.
Femke Halsema said “you could imagine getting cocaine at pharmacies or via a medical system”.
Since 2018, the 57-year-old Halsema has run the city known globally for its tolerance towards soft drugs such as cannabis and for its lively commercial and tourism sector.
But the “war on drugs” had not halted the violent and multibillion-dollar underworld that sucks up 80 per cent of Amsterdam police time, she said.
“I think that some drugs are dangerous, and I also think it is wise to reduce drug use. But I also notice that the way we do this does not help … we need to think of better ways to regulate drugs.”
She said the street price of cocaine had stayed “exactly the same … so we have had no effect”.
Alongside a regulated cocaine market, she said she could also envisage a market for drugs such as Ecstasy.
Halsema is aware her position is controversial and she has run into criticism, notably from the mayor of Antwerp in Belgium, a key gateway for drugs into Europe.
The mayor of Rotterdam, a city also used extensively to get drugs into the continent, has aimed at consumers with a campaign saying that each “line” of cocaine was helping criminal gangs.
But Halsema, who studied criminology at university, said she did not believe treating consumers as criminals was the solution. She pointed to the situation in the United States where the prison system struggles to cope with the volume of people convicted of drug offences.
The drug debate in the Netherlands was “emotional and moral”, she said. “‘Drugs harm health. Drugs are bad. It’s immoral to use them’,” runs the argument. “There is rarely a more pragmatic or economic discussion on the topic,” she said.
Frustrated by the Dutch government’s lack of willingness to engage on the issue, Halsema has thrown the debate open internationally.
In January, she invited fellow mayors and experts to a conference in Amsterdam to discuss “how and not whether” cities should regulate drugs.
The idea appeared to have gained traction, with the conference’s final declaration signed by, among others, the mayor of Bern and the former mayor of Colombia’s capital Bogota.
“Anyone who thinks a bit about ways to really reduce the influence of the narco-traffickers comes to this conclusion … there is in fact really no alternative,” she said. “The judicial system is under pressure, and it costs an incredible amount of money.
“And in that sense, we are slowly but surely developing into a narco state in which, yes, the fight against drugs becomes one of our most important issues.”