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The drug supply in Amsterdam is heavily regulated by the police. They have closing hours at 11 on weekdays and at 1 on weekends. There are arrangements where so

The drug supply in Amsterdam is heavily regulated by the police. They have closing hours at 11 on weekdays and at 1 on weekends. There are arrangements where some people make money so other people don’t. A few years ago, all the encryption for dealers was broken [1]. Many of them agreed to continue under certain circumstances. It’s a reasonable balance. During Covid, they shut down all the coffee shops selling weed — and that lasted a day. Because they realized the black market would step in. Keeping things flowing in a regulated market is always preferred to a completely illegal (unregulated) market. [1] https://apnews.com/article/encrypted-phones-crime-encrochat-drugs-arrests-3ccc15ef095c201eb9fe55837bfdd886 https://apnews.com/article/encrypted-phones-crime-encrochat-...

alephnerd 3y ago
None of that actually disproves my point. If a "regulated" market can still have players explicitly target heads of state, cabinet members, and the future monarch of a country for extrajudicial killings and saw a dramatic increase in violence, then by definition the light touch regulation used is failing. All my examples happened in 2022. You can try to rationalize, but at the end of the day it is a dirty business and even regulation would not clean it up (eg. Oklahoma's attempt at legalizing Marijuana cultivation lead to an influx of Chinese organized crime players [0] because of high taxes on legal marijuana) There is a happy path between harm reduction, decriminalization, and legalization, but imo the Dutch system is clearly not it. [0] - https://www.propublica.org/article/chinese-organized-crime-us-marijuana-market https://www.propublica.org/article/chinese-organized-crime-u...
- dr_dshiv 3y ago
  Name a better system. Perfect is enemy of good. The system evolves. It’s just the beginning of soft regulation — obviously some bad players didn’t like it.
  - alephnerd 3y ago
    Check out California, Washington, Colorado, Alaska, or Oregon sometime. Marijuana access is legal in all those states and LSD is on the path of legalization as well. While organized crime does continue to be an issue in the Marijuana industry in these states, they haven't attempted to assassinate our Governors or Congressmembers. Literally most of the US has legalized Marijuana (not decriminalized - LEGALIZED), and the Dutch system is extremely archaic and continues to perpetuate a black market. Access to clean financing and crackdowns on black market dealing are what keep criminals out of the industry. Plus in CA you can audit the supply chain of marijuana products because of the paper trail required. Most of OK's illicit marijuana is shipped to states where it's still a black market product due to lack of legal access (eg. NY) All it sounds like is you like to party sometimes but want to remain in denial that a product your consuming is morally tainted.
    - dr_dshiv 3y ago
      It wasn’t an attempted assasination. You are overblowing this. https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/08/man-arrested-for-amalia-threats-describes-claim-as-mad/ https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/08/man-arrested-for-amalia-thr... Lots of products we buy are morally tainted. I don’t appreciate black and white thinking — it is polarizing.

alephnerd 3y ago

None of that actually disproves my point. If a "regulated" market can still have players explicitly target heads of state, cabinet members, and the future monarch of a country for extrajudicial killings and saw a dramatic increase in violence, then by definition the light touch regulation used is failing. All my examples happened in 2022. You can try to rationalize, but at the end of the day it is a dirty business and even regulation would not clean it up (eg. Oklahoma's attempt at legalizing Marijuana cultivation lead to an influx of Chinese organized crime players [0] because of high taxes on legal marijuana) There is a happy path between harm reduction, decriminalization, and legalization, but imo the Dutch system is clearly not it. [0] - https://www.propublica.org/article/chinese-organized-crime-us-marijuana-market https://www.propublica.org/article/chinese-organized-crime-u...

dr_dshiv 3y ago
Name a better system. Perfect is enemy of good. The system evolves. It’s just the beginning of soft regulation — obviously some bad players didn’t like it.
- alephnerd 3y ago
  Check out California, Washington, Colorado, Alaska, or Oregon sometime. Marijuana access is legal in all those states and LSD is on the path of legalization as well. While organized crime does continue to be an issue in the Marijuana industry in these states, they haven't attempted to assassinate our Governors or Congressmembers. Literally most of the US has legalized Marijuana (not decriminalized - LEGALIZED), and the Dutch system is extremely archaic and continues to perpetuate a black market. Access to clean financing and crackdowns on black market dealing are what keep criminals out of the industry. Plus in CA you can audit the supply chain of marijuana products because of the paper trail required. Most of OK's illicit marijuana is shipped to states where it's still a black market product due to lack of legal access (eg. NY) All it sounds like is you like to party sometimes but want to remain in denial that a product your consuming is morally tainted.
  - dr_dshiv 3y ago
    It wasn’t an attempted assasination. You are overblowing this. https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/08/man-arrested-for-amalia-threats-describes-claim-as-mad/ https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/08/man-arrested-for-amalia-thr... Lots of products we buy are morally tainted. I don’t appreciate black and white thinking — it is polarizing.