Amsterdam 5 Pill Ecstasy Policy Explained
Amsterdam city council politician Jan Paternotte explained to Vice’s Thump Magazine this week that the Dutch town’s policy of tolerating five ecstasy pills as being for personal use recognises people use pills for pleasure and also reduces risk for those determined to dabble.
“Having one pill doesn’t say a lot about the amount of MDMA that’s in the pill,” the Social Liberal “D66″ party representative pointed out.
“It could be 300mg; it could be 75mg, and if you require people to carry around fewer pills, what usually happens is that the amount of MDMA in a single pill will increase, which is not very healthy,” he added. (Thump)
The article appeared just as the United Nations, in a landmark report leaked to organisations including the BBC, called for the possession and use of all drugs to be decriminalised worldwide, a stance the drug warriors immediately retracted after one country, reported to be the US, disagreed.
Virgin chief Richard Branson initially welcomed the UN report, writing on his blog ‘in the face of overwhelming evidence, UN expert opinion, and international human rights law, it’s not decriminalisation that “sends the wrong message” – it’s the continued refusal to engage, review or discuss reform.’
Following the UN U-turn, he continued to speak out.
“I challenge Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of UNODC, to point out if there is anything in their briefing paper that is inaccurate and to explain why (he should be proud of it),” he suggested.
“The paper spells out in clear terms and based on extensive evidence: there are strong arguments for treating drugs as a health issue and not imprisoning or otherwise criminalising people for personal use or possession of drugs.” (Virgin.com: http://bit.ly/1kj6Vmi )
