Dutch Police Say No to Dope Ban

Off Topic Politics and World Issues
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[u]Dutch police say no to dope ban[/u]
WHEN it comes to turning a blind eye to cannabis use in Europes most tolerant city, police in Amsterdam are demanding the right to practise what they preach.

[b]Officers in the capital of the Netherlands are in open revolt against a new code of behaviour that orders them to stop taking drugs in their free time.

The new rules, due to come in on January 1, have upset officers who patrol the citys infamous coffee shops, where cannabis is smoked openly by locals and millions of tourists attracted by the city’s relaxed atmosphere.

It has been their duty for years to operate a policy of non-enforcement over the coffee shop culture. Now, the police union will back its members in defying the cannabis ban. The union has vowed to bring a test case in court when the first officer falls foul of the new rules, claiming that they amount to an unjustified intrusion into personal life[/b].

[i]Police should not be put in pigeonholes in which they can no longer be themselves, said Hans van Duijn, the chairman of the Nederlandse Politie Bond, the police union.

'If you allow people in the country to smoke (cannabis), you would be a hypocrite to say to the police officers, ‘You are not allowed to do that’.

‘It is illegal by law but we allow it for everybody else just to use it in small amounts for themselves. There must be scope for using soft drugs.’

The code, however, is only the latest example of a backlash against years of Dutch tolerance that have given Amsterdam a seedy reputation that the citys authorities are keen to reverse[/i].

[b]The city police force now wants all officers to set a better example. We are now saying: ‘You are also seen as a police officer when off-duty,’ a police spokesman said.

The code states officers must be ‘model citizens’[/b]. The words they must live by are ‘respect, transparency, responsibility, involvement, trustworthiness, justice and balance’.

Mr van Duijn remained defiant. ‘If there is an officer who has been smoking a soft drug in private and they catch him, we will go to court to ask to be treated as everybody else’.

The Times

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Could you imagine being able to say you smoked with a cop and didn’t get arrested?

The law seems unfair for them, if its legal for the civs then it should be legal for them. Well legal in the sense that they don’t inforce the law against it.

3

[quote]John S. wrote:
Could you imagine being able to say you smoked with a cop and didn’t get arrested?

The law seems unfair for them, if its legal for the civs then it should be legal for them. Well legal in the sense that they don’t inforce the law against it.[/quote]

All of this is not really though through.

So who is going to report and arrest those cops if they are supposed to ignore soft drugs?

4

[quote]John S. wrote:
Could you imagine being able to say you smoked with a cop and didn’t get arrested? [/quote]

Meh.

Where I come from, when a cop smokes with you, chances are that he’s a moocher.

5

…Oh just let em smoke.

In my opinion, those who drink looks many times more the buffoon than those who smoke pot.

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How about if you don’t like the rules then don’t be a cop. No one is drafting them into the police force.

mike

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[quote]Mikeyali wrote:
How about if you don’t like the rules then don’t be a cop. No one is drafting them into the police force.

mike[/quote]

They liked the rules when they became cops.

They just do not want to live with any and every rule change. Especially not when it mean they have to become role models for abstinence.

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[quote]orion wrote:
Mikeyali wrote:
How about if you don’t like the rules then don’t be a cop. No one is drafting them into the police force.

mike

They liked the rules when they became cops.

They just do not want to live with any and every rule change. Especially not when it mean they have to become role models for abstinence.

[/quote]

Jobs change. Hire people to replace them.

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[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
Mikeyali wrote:
How about if you don’t like the rules then don’t be a cop. No one is drafting them into the police force.

mike

They liked the rules when they became cops.

They just do not want to live with any and every rule change. Especially not when it mean they have to become role models for abstinence.

Jobs change. Hire people to replace them.[/quote]

Because of all the Dutch people yearning to become cops?

Plus, around two years of training, their union, public opinion…

Their government will back down.

As it should.

10

[quote]orion wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
Mikeyali wrote:
How about if you don’t like the rules then don’t be a cop. No one is drafting them into the police force.

mike

They liked the rules when they became cops.

They just do not want to live with any and every rule change. Especially not when it mean they have to become role models for abstinence.

Jobs change. Hire people to replace them.

Because of all the Dutch people yearning to become cops?

Plus, around two years of training, their union, public opinion…

Their government will back down.

As it should.[/quote]

Perhaps but it is very reasonable to ask the law enforcers abide by the law.

11

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
Mikeyali wrote:
How about if you don’t like the rules then don’t be a cop. No one is drafting them into the police force.

mike

They liked the rules when they became cops.

They just do not want to live with any and every rule change. Especially not when it mean they have to become role models for abstinence.

Jobs change. Hire people to replace them.

Because of all the Dutch people yearning to become cops?

Plus, around two years of training, their union, public opinion…

Their government will back down.

As it should.

Perhaps but it is very reasonable to ask the law enforcers abide by the law.[/quote]

Alas there is the law and then there is the law.

Since we are democracies where governments derive their power from the demos (unusually concept, I know) they tend not to fuck with us.

Making a law out of something and ignore it after that is a perfectly sensible solution to many problems.

Next example: Illegal care givers in Austria.

You can a) force all Austrians to pay minimum wages for Austrian care givers.

Impossible.

B) Declare that all that social engineering has led to a situation that is unsolvable within the system and that SS has failed.

Unthinkable.

C) Raise taxes and pay for it.

No more room for that.

D) Say it is illegal and ignore it as hard as you can.

Perfect!

As I have repeatedly posted many of you do not get that these pseudo draconian laws that should transform us into a workers paradise are simply ignored by every sensible person and that includes cops.

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[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
Mikeyali wrote:
How about if you don’t like the rules then don’t be a cop. No one is drafting them into the police force.

mike

They liked the rules when they became cops.

They just do not want to live with any and every rule change. Especially not when it mean they have to become role models for abstinence.

Jobs change. Hire people to replace them.

Because of all the Dutch people yearning to become cops?

Plus, around two years of training, their union, public opinion…

Their government will back down.

As it should.

Perhaps but it is very reasonable to ask the law enforcers abide by the law.[/quote]

They are, drugs are legal there, hence even if they take them they are following the law.

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Why don’t I live in Amsterdam? What a place!

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[quote]pat36 wrote:
…
Perhaps but it is very reasonable to ask the law enforcers abide by the law.

They are, drugs are legal there, hence even if they take them they are following the law.[/quote]

I am not sure about all that. I think they are illegal but tolerated. Just legalize it and quit pretending.

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Continue smoking pot or continue being a shill for the hypocritical State? Tough call.

I call on all government officials who support this ban to stop drinking alcohol in their free time.

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[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
pat36 wrote:
…
Perhaps but it is very reasonable to ask the law enforcers abide by the law.

They are, drugs are legal there, hence even if they take them they are following the law.

I am not sure about all that. I think they are illegal but tolerated. Just legalize it and quit pretending.[/quote]

No can do, because when the US started the war on drugs in earnest, lots of international treaties where signed that Marijuana and the like is very, very bad and must be verboten.

So now they are verboten.

Nobody really cares though.

You do not really think that any reasonable person would imprison millions of non violent drug users?

A) Where would we put them?

B) Who pays for this shit?

C) Imagine the police state, the surveillance, the abuse of power, the hypocrisy…

Naaaaa…

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[quote]orion wrote:
…
No can do, because when the US started the war on drugs in earnest, lots of international treaties where signed that Marijuana and the like is very, very bad and must be verboten.

…[/quote]

What year did Dutchland outlaw pot? How about the rest of Europe.

Your blame America act is tired.

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[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
…
No can do, because when the US started the war on drugs in earnest, lots of international treaties where signed that Marijuana and the like is very, very bad and must be verboten.

…

What year did Dutchland outlaw pot? How about the rest of Europe.

Your blame America act is tired.[/quote]

The US was a major force behind the establishment international anti-drug treaties. The UN treaty signed in the 60s prevents any country from actually legalizing cannabis for fun, hence the the Dutch toleration/decriminalization.

19

[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
…
No can do, because when the US started the war on drugs in earnest, lots of international treaties where signed that Marijuana and the like is very, very bad and must be verboten.

…

What year did Dutchland outlaw pot? How about the rest of Europe.

Your blame America act is tired.[/quote]

Austria made it illegal in the late 60s, I do not know the exact year for Holland but I am guessing around the same time.

Long, long, loooong after Anslingers weed makes-em-negroes-uppity and-horny-schtick.

The whole idea of a prohibition is so undeniably protestant American that yes, I blame America.

edit:

Plus I just found out that Weed was finally made illegal in the late 60s in the US and, what a coincidence that was when it was forbidden in Austria too.

20

[quote]orion wrote:
Zap Branigan wrote:
orion wrote:
…
No can do, because when the US started the war on drugs in earnest, lots of international treaties where signed that Marijuana and the like is very, very bad and must be verboten.

…

What year did Dutchland outlaw pot? How about the rest of Europe.

Your blame America act is tired.

Austria made it illegal in the late 60s, I do not know the exact year for Holland but I am guessing around the same time.

Long, long, loooong after Anslingers weed makes-em-negroes-uppity and-horny-schtick.

The whole idea of a prohibition is so undeniably protestant American that yes, I blame America.

edit:

Plus I just found out that Weed was finally made illegal in the late 60s in the US and, what a coincidence that was when it was forbidden in Austria too.

[/quote]

Well before the war on drugs. Europe has itself to blame for passing the laws and signing the treaties.