Just to highlight a few of its conclusions:
- Far fewer arrests for minor drug offenses occur.
While it was recently reported that someone is arrested for marijuana possession in the U.S. every 42 seconds, Dutch citizens have generally been spared the burden of criminal records for minor, nonviolent offenses. According to one comparison, in 2005 there were 269 marijuana possession arrests for every 100,000 citizens in the United States, 206 in the United Kingdom, 225 in France, and just 19 in the Netherlands."
- Lighter enforcement did not lead to more drug use.
About 25.7 percent of Dutch citizens reported having used marijuana at least once, which is on par with the European average. In the comparatively strict United Kingdom, the rate is 30.2 percent and in the United States it is a whopping 41.9 percent."
I have to say that this resembles my personal experience. Whenever I speak with American friends, drugs seem to have been part of their high-school/college experience, while I can't say the same of my Dutch friends or myself: drugs just were not part of our universe.
The report continues:
