ogress in the rights oftechnology sophisticated environment, may redound to the benefit of the drug issue. I think also that the war on cigarette users if you want to call it that--is raising the issue of individual autonomy vis-a-vis drug use in a context to which tens of millions of Americans still relate. And the more that cigarettes get tarred as a drug, the more the connection is going to be prominent. You're going to have tens of millions of Americans beginning to identify more and more with the heroin, cocaine and marijuana users. At the same time, you're going to have these arguments about individual rights and the freedom to use drugs in your own home.(Reason, July 1994 p.43) The personal rights and freedoms issue is a pressing point that supporters of prohibition must look towards and decide on what their beliefs are on how deeply government should interact and limit the actions of people. Call for a crusade or an exterminatory witchhunt. In theNetherlands, the focus is pragmatically centered on minimizingthe harm that addict population does to itself and the rest ofsociety. The record speaks for itself: American adolescents usemarijuana at about twice the rate of their counterparts inHolland, where marijuana and hashish have been freely availablefor more than 17 years. The only drug that causes trafficfatalities and violence in Holland is the same one that causesthese problems here--alcohol. Over a 17-year period in Holland,during which possession and use of hard drugs have been treatedunder 22 years of age who use heroin or cocaine has dropped from15 percent to less than three percent. (Perrine, p.12) InHolland, a Dutch reformed parish operate a methadone dispensaryand a needle exchange. There are designated areas where drugscan be used, and permitting such areas is controversial, even intolerant Holland. Drug legalization in England and Holland hashad mixed results. While there has been a slight increase ...
