Amsterdam teaches Bill O'Reilly a thing or two.

[lilered]

The Centre for Drugs Research, a former institute affiliated with the University of Amsterdam, reported that even in Amsterdam only 38.1 percent of the population had tried marijuana in their lifetimes as of 2001.

In 2005, the United States average was 40.3 percent compared to 22.6 percent of the entire Dutch population. Amsterdam is certainly higher than the national average, but hardly a disaster.

Am I the only one that has difficulty with these quoted figures? It is hard for me to believe that 40% of the US population has tried pot in their lifetime. Am I being naive?

Just a comment about Amsterdam, admittedly I haven't been there for the last 10 years, but before that I was there several times. I walked all over Amsterdam in the evenings and never had a problem. Something I wouldn't do in many US Cities. While true they had a Red Light District, they contained all sinful activities to within this District. This policy made the entire rest of the City very very safe. It was always my understanding they did this because they believed that they would have better control over vices that were going to take place anyway and by containment, they could manage them better. As of the last time I was there, they seemed to be very succesful. The fact that they are able to close several prisons and make layoffs because of decreased crime, speaks volumes to me, if true. Here in the U.S., we can't seem to build them fast enough.

[Elphaba]

Originally Posted by lilered

Am I the only one that has difficulty with these quoted figures? It is hard for me to believe that 40% of the US population has tried pot in their lifetime. Am I being naive?

Hi lil,

I just went online to find the numbers, as I am no expert. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana is the Nation's most commonly used illicit drug. More than 94 million Americans (40 percent) age 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once, according to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Smoke jumping in America
American Demographics, June 1, 2003

According to an October 2002 Time/CNN poll, nearly half of Americans (47 percent) have smoked pot at least once. Gallup polls indicate that a greater share of people have sampled the drug over the last 30 years or so, but not to the level reflected in the Time/CNN survey. According to Gallup data gathered in 1999, 34 percent of Americans admitted trying marijuana, up from 11 percent in 1972 and 4 percent in 1969.

[Elphaba]

Originally Posted by boyando

I am reminded of what Gorge Carlin use to say about Marijuana. You have to watch yourself, when your in California. If you get caught with pot, they will give you a ticket.

Love George Carlin.

I think the days of merely getting a ticket for possession of marijuana are long gone. The attached information sheet, called Marijuana possession is a misdemeanor, provides information about legal penalties for the different ways people use pot--it could be just possession, the sale and distribution to minors, etc. I didn't realize there were so many different examples of breaking the law with marijuana.

(Did you even want to know all of that stuff? )

Heck with Amsterdam, Nevada has legalized prostitution and California has got almost legal pot. And lets face it, there is no crime in those states.

This is a logical fallacy:

1. Nevada and California have legalized prostitution.
2. Nevada and California have very high crime rates.
3. Amsterdam has legailized prostitution.
4. Therefore, Amsterdam must have a very high crime rate.

Number 4 is incorrect. I already wrote about this in a post above, but here's another chart demonstrating Amsterdam's significantly low crime rate:

Drug Policy and Crime Statistics

Murder rate as a percentage of population (in 1996):
1.8 per 100,000 in the Netherlands;
8.22 in the U.S.
(Sources: Netherlands Bureau of Statistics; White House Office of National Drug Control Policy)

Incarceration rate as a percentage of population (1997):
73 per 100,000 in the Netherlands;
645 per 100,000 in the U.S.
(Sources: Netherlands Ministry of Justice; White House Office of National Drug Control Strategy)

Crime-related deaths as a percentage of population:
1.2 per 100,000 in the Netherlands (1994);
8.2 per 100,000 in the U.S. (1995).
(Sources: World Health Organization; Uniform Crime Reports, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation)

Per capita spending on drug-related law enforcement:
$27 per capita in the Netherlands;
$81 per capita in the U.S.
(Sources: Netherlands Ministry of Justice; White House Office of National Drug Control Strategy)

I have recently heard many people who live in Amsterdam, (most of them on Youtube) mention how low the crime rate is. They also say, like lilred did, that they can walk around the city and never feel frightened or threatened. That is not be true of many American cities.

I actually wish I could visit there. It looks breathtaking.

[boyando]

Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of O'Reilly. He injects way to much of his own thoughts into his telling of the news. This is one example.

Another is when he based his views of global warming on how the ice skating rink in one of the New York parks didn't freeze every year, like it did when he was a kid. Now there is science.

I could come up with a couple more examples, if I watched the big O.

My lack of desire to defend O'Reilly, doesn't mean that I think Amsterdam has got it right.

All the statistics show that we have a problem here and in Amsterdam, they have less of a problem. I wonder (and this is a question, more than a statement) how much of a inner city problem, the Dutch have?

Were we grow up can hardly be considered an inner city, but it was what you might call the wrong side of the tracts. I remember walking through the gauntlet (a small ally that we nick named the gauntlet) on the way too our Junior High. On the one side of the gauntlet you had kids our age handing out pills, for free. Sure only your first ones were free.

Even though we were young, I don't remember any one saying anything too the Principal, and the pushers were there, day after day. The California that I remember growing up in (and here is my O'Reilly moment) was like prohibition in the 1920's. Drugs every were you looked, but no one seemed to care.

My point is this; it doesn't matter how many laws you make, if the society in which those laws have an effect, does not support those laws. I.E., when booze was illegal you could find it every were, including under the sink of my wife's, grandfather's house, who was a cop at the time.

[Palerider]

I wonder if Amsterdam could teach CNN a thing or two...

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by bytebear

I
Now, when you go to the red light district, things are considerably more sexual, with pornography that includes bestiality. It was quite an eye opener. Just because you have a society that largely ignores the vices it allows, doesn't mean we should accept such vices as the reason for their happiness or low crime rates.

Newsflash, vices exist everywhere!

However, lower crimes rates definitely are something to be appreciated. Drive by shootings in Denmark usually refers to taking photos out your car window.