The head of Amsterdam (Netherlands) proposed introducing regulation of the sale and use of cocaine in the city in order to undermine the economy of criminal groups that receive huge profits from the sale of this drug.
She stated this in an interview with Het Financieele Dagblad.
“Let us conclude that hundreds of years of disappointment and repression have achieved little. It turns out that people have a need for stimulants. There is a market for it,” said city mayor Femke Halsema.
According to the politician, the drug market should be regulated in order to undermine the income model of “unscrupulous criminals”. At the same time, Halsema advocates not for the “hasty legalization” of cocaine, but for its regulation.
About 80 percent of resources are spent fighting drug crime, Femke said. She noted that in the Netherlands and Belgium, the street value of cocaine has remained the same for years, which led the city leader to conclude that the enormous amount of effort “has not affected the market.”
Halsema counts himself among those scientists and administrators who believe that the “war on drugs” is as destructive as the drugs themselves.
It is known that similar measures are already being implemented as part of the Dutch government’s pilot project for growing cannabis, where it is legally supplied to cafes.
The government said the number of cocaine seizures in the Netherlands increased in 2023. Most of this drug was found in the ports of Rotterdam and Vlissingen, and an increase in trade was also recorded at Dutch airports.
Earlier, Kursor reported that police stopped a traffic violator who was transporting drugs in his underpants.
