Plainsman1963

By MARIA LOKSHIN | Seattlepi | 10-12-2004

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- There's a whiff of crisis in the air at the Dutch Health Ministry: It's sitting on a pile of pot that it just can't sell.

The Netherlands rolled out a program last year that allows patients to buy prescription marijuana at any pharmacy. Some medical insurance policies cover at least part of the cost, but often not enough to offset the pharmacy price.

In a country where any adult can walk into a "coffee shop" and smoke a joint for much less than the government price, many say the experiment is a bust.

"I think it's a shame that they can't deliver a cannabis product a little bit cheaper than the coffee shops," said David Watson, head of Hortapharm, an Amsterdam-based company licensed to research and develop cannabis for pharmaceutical use.

"Why is it that a legal commodity is more expensive than an illegal commodity?"

The government says packaging and distribution push up its prices, and acknowledges its program may be foundering. Of some 450 pounds in anticipated sales, only about 175 pounds have been sold, said Bas Kuik, spokesman for the Office of Medicinal Cannabis, an arm of the Dutch Ministry of Health.

The government sells two varieties ranging from about $10 to $12 a gram - enough for up to four joints. Coffee shops sell it for as little as $5 a gram, with only the highest-quality weed fetching prices comparable to the government's.

Under the liberal Dutch approach dating to the 1970s, the law forbids privately growing and selling marijuana, and has no tolerance for dealing in hard drugs, but refrains from prosecuting the sale of small amounts.

The medicinal program allows pharmacies to sell standardized, quality-controlled marijuana from authorized growers to sufferers of chronic or terminal diseases such as multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, neuralgia, cancer and Tourette's syndrome.

The competition comes from hundreds of marijuana bars, thinly disguised as "coffee shops" to maintain the fiction of legality. Though patronized mostly by recreational smokers and tourists, people in pain who find relief from cannabis are also customers, paying less than they would to a pharmacy

Erik Bosman, manager of the Dampkring coffee shop, says many of his regulars are medical patients, and he even used to offer discounts for people with prescriptions.

At midday in the Dampkring, off one of Amsterdam's busiest shopping streets, dozens of mostly young people sit in a haze of smoke, sipping soft drinks, smoking prepackaged joints or rolling their own. A scene was shot here for the movie "Ocean's Twelve," and pictures of George Clooney and Brad Pitt with the staff hang on the wall.

The menu, with 23 types of marijuana and 18 of hashish, carries a "fair smoke" assurance that the cannabis is organically grown.

But many coffee shops are dingy, unappealing hangouts that hardly inspire a feeling of pharmaceutical confidence, and some seriously ill people will pay more for guaranteed quality, especially if it's covered by insurance.

One of two legal marijuana growers for the government program is James Burton, an American who immigrated after spending a year in a U.S. prison for growing marijuana to fight glaucoma. He founded the Stichting Institute of Medical Marijuana in Rotterdam, and for more than a decade sold pot directly to as many as 1,500 patients. He estimates about 10,000 people in the Netherlands use it for medical reasons.

In 2001 he signed an exclusive contract to provide the government program with cannabis. But the five-year agreement was terminated prematurely after he talked about it on Dutch television and was accused by the government of breaking a confidentiality clause.

"I finally had to come out publicly," Burton told The Associated Press. "The program's not working. They have less than 1,000 patients." he suggested the conservative coalition, which replaced the more liberal government that created the program, was not promoting it.

"The whole country is leaning to the right," he said. "I think a year from now this program's gone."

Kuik, the official, confirmed the program is up for review early next year.

Buzzby

Why? It's a plant! There's a lot of work involved in growing top-end sinsemilla, but not so much as to justify $2200 to $5400 a pound. The legal and semi-legal distribution systems are charging prices higher than black market prices in the US. At the low end, the Dutch are paying $142/oz. At the top end it's $340/oz.

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Hiz Highness

Now there's a problem I can solve. If someone from the Dutch gov't wants to contact me I think I can help them move that nasty pile of pot that's just stinking up their health ministry building.



-HH

PotShot

That is mildly unsettling. It would be unfortunate to see the dutch go back to prohibition...

But maybe its a good thing... the government understands it can't compete with the private sector right? Just as long as they dont outlaw private sale, which is what I worry about happening with U.S. Legalization. That is, still illegal to grow and sell, but you can buy from Big Pharm.

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Carl Sagan Goodness Richard Dawkins Goodness

Stephanie S.

Oh, Oh, Oh! I'll help, I'll help!

if all our problems were like this...what a wonderful world
I wonder whats the point of a Medical Marijuana Law in Holland anyway. Given that it is readily available all over Amsterdam, why would anyone even bother with a prescription?

peace

__________________
"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 (Listen to audio)

solutions

There are a few benefits in buying from a pharmacy:

- According to the Office of Medicinal Cannabis, 70% of Dutch health insurance companies (30 out of 43) cover at least part of the cost (some for a limited number of indications, some cover 90% of the cost, some have maximums). Coffeeshop pot is generally not reimbursed.

- Dutch residents who use medicinal cannabis and travel to one of the 14 other "Schengen countries" (european countries who ended internal border controls) can get a declaration from the Dutch Health Care Inspectorate for their medicinal cannabis and legally take it abroad to for instance Sweden. For other countries they can request permission from the embassies. ("Dutch residents" is not restricted to Dutch nationals btw)

- Amsterdam is probably the only Dutch city that has more coffeeshops than pharmacies. A considerable amount of rural muncipalities does not have coffeeshops, restricting acces to the medicine.

- Believe it or not, some Dutchies who could benefit from using cannabis as a medicine chose not to because it is an illegal substance when sold in a coffeeshop, while the OMC variety is perfectly legal.

The OMC adds a few arguments why to buy at a pharmacy:

"cannabis from any pharmacy always has the same concentration; is being checked on pesticides, heavy metals, bacteria's and fungi; by buying all your medicines in the pharmacy, your pharmacist can check if your medicines go well together; your pharmacist can explain things about your medicines, this also applies to cannabis."

It does look that way sometimes. Part of the Fortuyn-legacy is at least that conservative populism is more acceptable. On the other hand, the silent minority turned screaming minority is still a minority.

The unpopular reform of the social security system led to the biggest demonstration since the 80's (when the US wanted to place missiles here), the most recent poll showed the opposition Social Democrat PvdA would receive more seats in parliament then the current 3 governing coalition parties together (more) . It's still another two years till the next election, but it could be a landslide. Today trains and busses are on strike, protesting the Cabinets proposals.

It will be interesting to see if Burton is right, if the program will be terminated. I'm not so sure, as the benefits of the program are so evident that the minor imperfections are tolerable. Simply producing less pot, or exporting some would solve the "glut".

__________________
3 monkeys sitting under a coconut tree
discussing things as they are set to be
Said one to the other, now listen you two
there's a strange rumor that can't be true
they say man was descended from our noble race
but the very idea is a big disgrace
no monkey ever deserted his wife
or her baby to ruin their lives.
Damian Marley - Educated Fools

Stephanie S.

Thank you, solutions. I appreciate your taking the time to explain it!

peace