Amsterdam mayor wants Europe to decriminalize cocaine: “War on drugs isn’t working
‘By criminalising the supply and the demand, we are only helping the criminal market,’ said Halsema
Friday, October 7, 2022
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema believes that Europe should decriminalize the sale of cocaine, like various countries already allow the sale of cannabis. “But I am a realist and know that there is too little political support for such measures,” she said at the opening of a congress on organized crime organized by Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius and attended by multiple European institutions and Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. She thinks countries need to look at drug use differently. “Let us face the facts: the war on drugs isn’t working. Seizing drugs is not working. And cocaine regulation isn’t in the picture either. I hope we can agree that we need to formulate an alternative strategy,” Halsema said. (See also: Ministers say legalising drugs won’t deter crime; new cooperation might)
