War on drug tourism

Lately I've been fascinated by the remarkable disparity between the progress America seems to be making toward legalizing marijuana and — dare we say it? — all recreational drugs utilized by U.S. citizens to get high on, and on the other hand the regressive direction taken by Canada and the European Union to reverse the positive effects of well-established social policies centered on tolerance and "harm reduction" for recreational drug users

The wildly successful medical marijuana movement in America has severely altered the public perception of pot smoking in a positive way and helped pave the path to the eventuality of full legalization — because, after all, why should we all have to be sick in order to get high without risking arrest?

While things look better for legalization in America than at any time in at least 50 years, a terrible turn to the idiotic right is being taken by the government of the Netherlands — the center of sane and sensible drug policy since the 1970s — and by the European Union itself.

In a disgusting new development, the EU's top court ruled Dec. 10 that Dutch authorities can bar foreigners from cannabis cafés as a legally acceptable measure to combat "drug tourism."

A 2005 law enacted in Maastricht, a town positioned near the Belgian and German borders, prohibits local coffee shops from admitting non-Dutch patrons. In September 2006, the city's mayor shut down the Easy Going coffee shop after it admitted two EU citizens who were not residents of the Netherlands.

The proprietor, Marc Josemans, appealed the mayor's ruling on the grounds that the law mandates unequal treatment of EU citizens. But the European Court of Justice, based in Luxembourg, ruled that coffee shop owners are not protected by the EU's freedom of movement and nondiscrimination principles when they are in the business of marketing cannabis.

"That restriction is justified by the objective of combating drug tourism and the accompanying public nuisance," the court said, adding that drug tourism "is a concern for the public order and health of citizens" in all EU states.

The court noted that Maastricht's 14 coffee shops attract around 10,000 visitors every day — that's 3.9 million visits a year — and 70 percent of them are not from the Netherlands, according to data provided by the city of Maastricht.

What a terrible nuisance! That's an awful lot of local business to be chasing away for the sake of what — a higher place in heaven at the final judgment? A seat at the right hand of God? Seventy black-eyed virgins? After all, there's no intelligent rationale available to the opponents of marijuana use, particularly in terms of the "health of citizens." This is a medicine!

Even in the coffee shop setting, there's a lot to be said for the medicinal qualities of smoking some good herb, enjoying the fellowship of like-minded citizens and imbibing some good music over the sound system. The uplifting effect on one's mental health alone is a benefit you can't say too much about.

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