Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema has told the Financieele Dagblad in an interview that the sale of cocaine and other drugs should be decriminalized and regulated, to squeeze out organised crime.
The international struggle to defeat the drugs trade β the so-called war on drugs β is both βperverse and counterproductiveβ, Halsema told the paper ahead of a one-day conference on drug-related crime in the capital.
The time has come, she said, to βregulate and manageβ rather than try to end the trade. βWe have handed the market to unscrupulous criminals. They earn billions. And in the meantime, the war on drugs is disrupting entire countries, causing countless victims and strengthening the criminal business model.β
Earlier this month Halsema gave another exclusive interview to the Guardian newspaper, in which she said the Netherlands threatened to become a narco state.
βAmsterdam, as an international financial hub, now serves as a marketplace where the demand for drugs is being determined, and negotiations and payments are being made from all over the world,β the mayor wrote. βIf this continuesβ¦ our economy will be inundated with criminal money and violence will reach an all-time high.β
Halsema told the FD she did not take a moral position on the widespread use of recreational drugs in the capital, where βmenusβ circulate and users can order home deliveries.
βThe widespread use of drugs is integrated into society,β she said. βThe market is enormous. But there are risks to public health and then you should not leave the market to criminals.β Instead, she said, there should be a βpragmatic approachβ to the problem.
βAbusing drugs can have serious consequences,β she said. βBut often the risks are exaggerated. Cocaine, for example, is less harmful than alcohol. People make their own choices.β
Markus Jansen 
Fanny Mulder