How the Netherlands became a narco state | Hacker News Reader

How the Netherlands became a narco state

unherd.com

36 pointsxrayarx6 comments

This is really a sad state of affairs. I’m from the Netherlands (from Rotterdam) and the death of Peter R de Vries (crime reporter) was a real turning point for me to realize that things have gotten out of hand. Now, reflecting on this story makes me think how we get out of this situation.

This looking away is very Dutch but the underlying sense was that there was always this idea that crime kills crime, and people not involved were never damaged. Once a guy got shot and killed down the street of my place, and soon reports started coming that they were involved in the drug trade. Most of the people on my block were like “oh yeah.. that guy.. not an issue was selling all the time.”

With the recent murders on innocent people, we can see that this is no longer the case and something has to be done. But even in high profile cases key witnesses are being murdered days before they take the stand. It’s clear that the government doesn’t have a grasp on this situation and the massive security required for everyone involved is the consequence of this idea. This particular trial seems to be going in the direction of a conviction which is good, but these guys have made enough money to bend anything to there will, and going to prison is not going to stop these guys, especially the type of prisons we have in the Netherlands, and how violent this guys have shown themselves to be.

All that said, we have a long way ahead of us. I can see the digitizations and improvements is labeling making things hard in the port of Rotterdam. But this is one of the largest ports in the world, and it’s easy to pick up something unseen even with the best measures. Demand side management could be an option, but the upper classes love their cocaine apparently.

I can see it getting better, to the old state of things… but the crime will always get smarter as long there is money to be made.

Maybe take the cafes to EU or NL only and move sex work into brothels not window girls?

I only tried the weed, and my walking tour in the red light district was more about learning about how to balance certain things with the need to avoid human trafficking… but speaking as an American I’d go back just for the museums and parks. I enjoyed AMS more than several other cities on the days I wasn’t doing the things I put off earlier in my 20s.

And sorry to generalize based on one city. We don’t get much PTO so I quickly moved on to major cities via train after a couple days in a hostel since I was concerned what AirBNB does to rents and by what they tolerate from guests.

(Drives up rents, drives out well managed hostels like the one I lived in in Kreuzberg)

One major issue is really drug production. MDMA produced just in brabant makes its way all across europe. MDMA is illegal in the netherlands already.

Also prostitution is legal in most of europe, its only notable in the netherlands to tourists because of the red light district in amsterdam. Keeping it legal and socially tolerated helps reduce human trafficing.

I love the Netherlands for it's relentless and uncompromising dedication to decadence and entertainment. And unlike the Sun king the Netherlands never runs out of money.

And that is where it all went wrong. You can make so much money in drugs.

Doesn't Portugal have an even more liberal drug policy, yet isn't considered a narco-state?

Quote from the article:

“I call The Netherlands a ‘narco-state 2.0’,” says Jan Struijs, chairman of the Nederlandse PolitieBond police union.

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