WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of marijuana smokers in the Netherlands didn't immediately change in the 1970s when police stopped enforcing laws against the drug. But when it was sold openly at coffee shops in the 1980s, pot use almost tripled, according to a new study.
Robert MacCoun of the University of California, Berkeley, said the research suggests that the lack of marijuana penalties may not cause more people to seek the drug, but being able to buy it easily could trigger wider use.
"What the Dutch shows is that deciding not to throw drug users into prison is a very different issue from deciding to make commercial sales of the drugs available," said MacCoun, co-author of a study being published Friday in the journal Science.
Other experts cautioned that the Dutch culture and attitudes toward drug use are so different from the United States that the experience in the Netherlands may not apply to America.
"There is great danger in extrapolating from one country to another," said Lloyd D. Johnston of the University of Michigan.
The study come in the midst of a growing debate on drug policy in the United States. Some groups believe that if drugs are legalized, there would less crime by addicts seeking money to support their habit. Others believe that availability of drugs will not increase addiction rates. But many authorities say that any easy access to drugs or a diminished enforcement would lead to runaway use and a substantial increase in addiction.
For marijuana, some advocates are calling for wider access to the drug for medical uses. A bill proposed in Congress would let each state develop its own medical marijuana policies.
In the Science study, MacCoun and Peter Reuter of the University of Michigan said that in the 1970s, Dutch authorities decided to stop strictly enforcing marijuana laws relating to possession and sale of small amounts. The laws remained on the books, but the police were formally instructed to ignore them.
For years following that action, said MacCoun, the rate of marijuana use remained stable among 18-year-olds surveyed.
Starting in the 1980s, however, some coffee shops in the Netherlands began selling small amounts of the weed. Police took no action for sales of up to 30 grams, which is about an ounce.
"There was a real growth in the coffee shops," said MacCoun. Some shops moved into popular commercial areas and even printed menus that offered different types of marijuana. Prices ranged from $2 to $12 a joint.
The law prevented advertising the drug, but the shops found a way.
"They advertise by a code," said MacCoun. Ads of shops where the weed is available might have a sketch of a marijuana leaf, or a cloud of smoke, or the image of an entertainer closely linked in the Netherlands to pot smoking.
By the early 1990s, said MacCoun, marijuana use rates soared.
"The percentage of 18-year-olds who have tried marijuana at some point in their lives was up to 44 percent and it had been about 15 percent," he said. "The numbers started climbing, during a time when the numbers were not climbing in other European nations."
By contrast, teen use of marijuana in the United States was estimated in 1992 at about 12 percent.
MacCoun said that Dutch authorities responded by restricting the amount of marijuana that could be sold, from 30 grams to 5 grams per transaction. He said 5 grams is enough to keep a typical user puffing away for a month.
Johnston said that though the study is "quite interesting," he believes that some of the statistics on Dutch marijuana use in the 1980s is suspect, making it unclear if absence of enforcement actually has no effect on the rate of use.
"I'm not sure that early data is reliable," he said.
Johnston also questioned whether the Dutch experience is relevant to the United States.
"This is a single case study of one country with a culture that is quite different than ours," he said.
By PAUL RECER AP Science Writer{©1997 APWire:} Published on 10/2/97
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