Report Clears the Air on European Marijuana Use | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 26.06.2008
Cannabis is the drug of choice in Europe, with 13 million people lighting up each month. A new report by Europe’s drug agency EMCDDA aims to debunk misconceptions that persist about the drug.

Twenty percent of European adults have tried cannabis at some point in their lives, according to a mammoth 700-page report by the EU’s The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA).

The report examines Dutch dope-selling in coffee shops, hashish smoking in London during the heady 1960s, and the state of Moroccan marijuana production. The report was released on Thursday, June 26, and coincides with the UN’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

The study doesn’t push for EU-wide legalization of marijuana, nor does it advocate harsher punishments. Instead, it aims to serve as an authoritative reference work on scientific research, legislation and policy issues associated with the drug in Europe.

Most European cannabis comes from Morocco, which supplies 80 percent of all resin seized in Europe. The report also looks at emerging supply lines from countries such as Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia.

Not that all marijuana is being imported. In Britain, home-grown marijuana accounts for 50 percent of the market, according to the report.

The report also points out the differences between legislation in European countries. Portugal decriminalized cannabis use in 2000 and Luxembourg punishes possession with a fine. Meanwhile both Denmark and Italy have toughened laws.

It also examines the cost of cannabis, which gets more expensive as one heads north. Cannabis sells for 1.40 euros ($2.20) per gram in Spain while costing on average 21.50 euros per gram in Norway.

The report also claims to debunk the belief that modern-day cannabis is much stronger now than in the past. The report said that is an “urban myth” based on flawed data.

A 700 page report that tells the truth about cannabis without calling for harsh punishments and debunks the US drug czar’s “Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed” scare tactics?  Well, Happy International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking!  Maybe this will help Europe recognize that if they took the “illicit” out of the “trafficking”, they could tax the proceeds to fight “drug abuse”.

Travel author and TV host Rick Steves posted this column in Seattle’s largest newspaper. He’s also a member of the NORML Advisory Board.  You can also listen to my interview with Rick Steves at the 2007 NORML Conference where he cited many of these same points:

We need to get smart about marijuana
Europe, like the U.S., is dealing with a persistent drug-abuse problem. But unlike us, Europe, which treats drug abuse primarily as a public health issue rather than a criminal issue, measures the success of its drug policy in terms of pragmatic harm reduction.

Europeans seek a cure that isn’t more costly than the problem. While the U.S. spends its tax dollars on police, courts and prisons, Europe fights drug abuse by funding doctors, counselors and clinics. European Union policymakers estimate that for each euro invested in drug education and counseling, they save 15 euros in police and health costs. Similar estimates have been made for U.S. health-based approaches by the Rand Corp. and others.

When it comes to marijuana, European leaders understand that a society must choose: Tolerate alternative lifestyles or build more prisons. They’ve made their choice. We’re still building more prisons.

According to Forbes magazine, 25 million Americans currently use marijuana (federal statistics indicate that one in three Americans has used marijuana at some point), which makes it a $113 billion untaxed industry in our country. The FBI reports that about 40 percent of the roughly 1.8 million annual drug arrests in the U.S. are for marijuana — the majority (89 percent) for simple possession.

Rather than act as a deterrent, criminalization of marijuana drains precious resources, clogs our legal system and distracts law enforcement attention from more pressing safety concerns.

Like my European friends, I believe we can adopt a pragmatic policy toward marijuana, with a focus on harm reduction and public health, rather than tough-talking but counterproductive criminalization. The time has come to have an honest discussion about our marijuana laws and their effectiveness. We need to find a policy that is neither “hard on drugs” nor “soft on drugs” — but smart on drugs.