Dutch Supreme Court’s Chief Advisor - prohibition is unworkable
J. Wortel, Attorney General of The Netherlands Supreme Court questioning the prohibition of cannabis.
The Netherlands is well known for its official policy of tolerating small-scale sales and personal possession of cannabis. J. Wortel, Dutch "Attorney General" by the Supreme Court and a career-long prosecutor created a great awe declaring that even this tolerant cannabis policy is "unworkable" and undermines other law enforcement activities and public health priorities.
In an as yet unpublished paper prepared for The Netherlands’ Supreme Court of Justice, Wortel while not explicitly demanding legalization, he points to the subjective nature of cannabis law enforcement by commenting on a remarkable government anomaly in government attitudes: levying of excise-duties for nicotine proven harmful, while cannabis products continue to be forbidden in spite of the fact that it has not been proven that soft drugs are detrimental to human health." The Dutch top lawyer goes on, "I am convinced that a future historian describing our period, with regard to our official relationship with cannabis sativa will express astonishment about the money-squandering obstinacy with which we, the law enforcement community, keep struggling with our unworkable mandate." He writes, "Credo quia absurdum (I believe because it is absurd - in this context, the actual meaning is: I believe because it would be absurd not to believe). For a long time I have kept this to myself, as ... a respectable law enforcement official. But now I give in to the temptation to [acknowledge] that this saying comes to my mind every time I have to do my duty in a law case regarding hashish or weed."
Bushka Bryndova
Source :
