The war on drugs

The majority of the major city governments in the Netherlands wants the growing of cannabis to be regulated. The difference between regulating and legalizing is that with legalizing there are no set rules and with regulating there are. With the regulat

The majority of the major city governments in the Netherlands wants the growing of cannabis to be regulated. The difference between regulating and legalizing is that with legalizing there are no set rules and with regulating there are. With the regulation of cannabis people will have to keep to certain guidelines, just like with alcohol.

In the Netherlands the selling and use of cannabis is currently tolerated. People can have up to five grams of cannabis on them and own a maximum of five cannabis plants. Because the growing of and dealing in cannabis is illegal in the Netherlands, a rather odd situation has presented itself, because a coffeeshop is allowed to sell cannabis but technically is not allowed to buy it. This could be a reason of the increased popularity of people growing their own seeds, not only in the Netherlands, but all over the world. The newest online seedbank in this field is Suzy Seeds.

Around the whole world pro-cannabis organizations are starting to be a hot topic. The discussion about cannabis is getting fiercer. In Flanders, the Northern part of Belgium, they are also making themselves heard. Three Flemish academics, a criminologist, an economist and a toxicologist, are stating that cannabis should be legalized. They claim that the legalization of cannabis will be a much more effective way to make drug use visible and controllable.

In the U.S. Dr. Ethan Nadelmann is an important individual in the pro-cannabis battle. He is the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. The DPA is a leading organization promoting drug policies that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights. They believe the war on drugs is doing more harm than good. Another big pro-cannabis organization is NORML. Their mission is to move the public opinion sufficiently to legalize cannabis. They are the voice of cannabis smokers and have associates all over the world. 

Over the past few years many things have taken a positive turn, but the war on drugs is far from over. There are a lot of different pro-cannabis organizations with different views and in different countries, but in the end they are all fighting the same battle. There are so many countries in which the cultivation and consumption of the cannabis plant is still considered a major crime. It's a slow battle, but we will get there!