Monday, April 2, 2018

Dutch marijuana: where a legal market must purchase from an illegal black market

 The Dutch (legal) market for marijuana seems as confused as the legal American markets in (now) 30 states, but in different ways.
The NY Times has the story:
Solving the Dutch Pot Paradox: Legal to Buy, but Not to Grow
By CHRISTOPHER F. SCHUETZE

"While licensed coffee shops have the right to sell small amounts of recreational cannabis and hash to buyers older than 18, they have to rely on the black market to acquire their wares in bulk.

Right now, you are allowed to buy the milk, but you can’t know anything about the cow,”...
...
"Last month, the national police union, Politie Bond, released a stinging report warning of the growth of organized crime in the country, fueled by the drug trade.

“The Netherlands fulfills many characteristics of a narco-state. Detectives see a parallel economy emerging,” the report stated, noting that while crime over all had decreased, those producing and trafficking drugs were becoming ever more sophisticated.
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The situation in the U.S. is at least as conflicted.  After a long history as a popular illegal drug, thirty states and Washington D.C. have legalized marijuana in some forms and for at least some uses. But marijuana is still a banned Schedule I drug under Federal law, even though marijuana (spelled “Marihuana” in Schedule I) seems no longer to fit the legal definition of a Schedule I drug.
(See Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1308 — Schedules Of Controlled Substances, https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/cfr/2108cfrt.htm )


See, earlier,

Saturday, December 9, 2017

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