Netherlands - The Cannabis Tribunal in The Hague

[Encod]

Dear friends

See also: http://www.encod.org/info/THE-CANNAB...THE-HAGUE.html


On Monday and Tuesday, December 1st and 2nd, 2008, the Cannabis tribunal <http://www.cannabistribunaal.nl> will be held in Nieuwspoort <http://www.nieuwspoort.nl/>, The Hague. The central issue at this tribunal is the road that Dutch cannabis policy should take after more than 30 years of "gedogen" (tolerant policies). Those in favour and those against are all wellcome at this event, that is organised by the Stichting Drugsbeleid <http://www.drugsbeleid.nl>, the Cannabis College <http://www.cannabiscollege.com/> and ENCOD.

The cannabis tribunal consists of six hearings and a debate with politicians. The hearings will be introduced by one reality expert and two witnesses who represent each another view on the issue. Thus, subjects like the future of the coffeeshops, the medicinal use of cannabis and the moral basis of cannabis prohibition will be discussed. Starting point of the tribunal is the statement that cannabis prohibition has more negative than positive effects. At the end of each hearing, together with the audience a conclusion is formulated.

At the end of the first day (Monday December 1st) a debate will take place in which the spokespersons on drug policy of all political groups from the parliament and the responsible ministers will be invited to defend current policy. These are minister Ter Horst of Internal Affairs, Hirsch Ballin of Justice and Klink of Public Health.

On Tuesday December 2nd the organisers of the tribunal will present the conclusions on a press conference.

All are wellcome but please note that the working language of the tribunal is Dutch (sorry)

Best wishes

Joep
www.encod.org

Reputation Comments on this post:

*whistle*

[Lunar Loops]

Thank you for keeping us informed.

Interesting. Why is the starting position "cannabis prohibition has more negative than positive effects", rather than starting from a neutral standpoint?

What is the next step after this? Is this likely to have any impact on Dutch policy?

[guldenat]

Good ole' Ab Klink. My own personal Jesus Christ.

[Encod]

Originally Posted by Lunar Loops

Thank you for keeping us informed.

Interesting. Why is the starting position "cannabis prohibition has more negative than positive effects", rather than starting from a neutral standpoint?

What is the next step after this? Is this likely to have any impact on Dutch policy?

Hi,

Well we have a saying in Dutch: who keeps silent, approves...

We challenge the political parties to refute this statement. And if nobody can, we may then conclude that it is a true statement. Which means we can then say that we are witnessing a policy (of cannabis prohibition) which makes things worse, and everybody knows it..

Best wishes

Joep

[Lunar Loops]

Originally Posted by Encod

Hi,

Well we have a saying in Dutch: who keeps silent, approves...

We challenge the political parties to refute this statement. And if nobody can, we may then conclude that it is a true statement. Which means we can then say that we are witnessing a policy (of cannabis prohibition) which makes things worse, and everybody knows it..

Best wishes

Joep

Fair point and thanks for explaining. It will be interesting to see how this pans out.

[podge]

Yes this should be very interesting. If there is video footage taken of any of this im sure an english translation would be much appreciated and quite a valuable addition to the forum. When the time comes if anyone out there with the linguistic skills and the know how as to add subtitles to the video then im sure a lot of good rep would come ones way.

[Nature Boy]

I wonder when The Alcoholic Tribunal is on.