[Duplicity]

There was a lot of interesting ideology in that. I love the Dutch governments attitude toward their citizen's freedoms. I have to do an informative speech for a class and I just may do Dutch Drug Policy. Some cool stuff in this section

A public health approach to drugs

The Netherlands has a long, liberal tradition of personal freedom. Its social mores on drug use and legalized prostitution, for example, are extremely permissive by American standards. Overall, illegal drug use is considered a public health problem, not a crime.

"Soft" drugs such as marijuana are technically illegal, but people who possess amounts under five grams are not prosecuted. In 105 of Holland's 538 municipalities, specially licensed cafes sell marijuana along with coffee and cake, while officials look the other way.

Ecstasy is considered an illegal "hard" drug in the Netherlands. But, as with marijuana, those caught with small amounts for personal use aren't prosecuted. Instead, the Dutch Health Ministry parks official vans in front of nightclubs and raves, offering free tests of Ecstasy pills to guard against overdoses.

"The Dutch drug politics is mostly health politics, and users are approached more as patients who are sick and need to be helped instead of criminals who need to be put in jail," said Martin Witteveen, chief national public prosecutor for southeastern Holland.

All of these factors influence the Dutch Parliament, which has opposed drug-fighting methods it considers too draconian.

As a result, some law enforcement officials on both sides of the Atlantic have privately accused the Dutch government of being soft on Ecstasy. They criticize Dutch laws that virtually ban plea agreements and ignore low-level street dealers and small-time smugglers such as Marco.

U.S. authorities arrest and prosecute street dealers, some of whom accept plea deals and cooperate in exchange for shorter prison terms. "Squeezing" such smaller players for information about higher-ups is a key tool.

In the Netherlands, plea bargains are extremely rare and "highly controversial," said Witteveen, who last year was the first prosecutor in the nation to have a plea deal approved by the Dutch Supreme Court.

Objections focus on the ethical quandaries plea agreements raise -- that criminals should not be offered deals or receive reduced sentences.

With no prospect to reduce their time behind bars, lower-level drug operatives in Holland have no incentive to cooperate with authorities, said several U.S. law enforcement officials.

"In the United States, often our investigation starts at the time of arrest," a federal law enforcement official said privately. "Theirs [Dutch investigations] end at the time of arrest."

Witteveen and several other Dutch officials said they had too few people to fight low-level drug dealing as aggressively as they wanted. They also said the government has made a strategic decision to concentrate on major traffickers and producers.

But even when they pursue high-level dealers, other aspects of Dutch law apparently get in the way. For instance, laws severely restrict the use of undercover detectives, and this curtails most infiltration of criminal groups.

Such limitations are based on a historical distaste for "agent provocateur" activities, Witteveen said. There are also philosophical disagreements in the Netherlands about the ethics of allowing the police to break the law to enforce it. And there is a fear that overall police integrity could be corrupted by close contact with criminals.

"Basically, we believe it is a very serious matter for a police officer to pretend to be a buyer or deliverer," Witteveen said.