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"Silenced NGO Partner"

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"I value the fact that you have spoken out on important issues. We don't need silent partners, we need dynamic, outspoken ones!" said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa

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You're comments will be quite important in the process ahead.

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I think that the contribution of NGO's and generally speaking

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your own views and whatever you do on the ground

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in relation to the UNGASS targets, are important.

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My name is Frederick Polak, from the European Organization <u>_</u>,

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I doubt you're, what you say, that you're open to be challenged.

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I had a bad experience in that respect with you sir,

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I'm sorry to say,

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and that was at the New Orleans conference that you mentioned,

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where I put a very simple question to you,

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and twice I put that question to you, and you refused to answer,

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and you started to stray away and talk about other things,

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but you did not answer the question.

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So I'll do it again now if I may.

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A simple question:

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In Holland, cannabis is available for everybody who wants to use it

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and who is an adult over 18 years.

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So there is no restriction on the personal use of cannabis

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and on possession of small quantities.

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Yet the levels of use of cannabis in Holland are lower

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than in the countries surrounding us.

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And I said to you, this must be a problem for you,

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I would like to know how you explain this

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because this is contrary to the theory of drug prohibition.

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This is contrary to how the whole system here is working,

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and I would like to know how you understand this.

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And you refused to answer this question.

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So I put the question to you again.

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No my friend I did not actually refuse, actually I got into trouble,

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because as you recall in New Orleans

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when I was addressing this very point of the Netherlands.

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I made certain statements that were then picked up by the Dutch press.

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And there were news informant statements

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about stigmatizing my own behavior in the Netherlands.

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Though I did not, and I didn't recall you personally, sorry,

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a thousand or two other people, but I do recall your question.

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The answer to your question comes from the Netherlands itself,

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for example from the very same mayor of Amsterdam,

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as you know, no more than fourteen years ago there were

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2600 coffee shops selling marijuana.

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In the Netherlands there has been a decreasing number and size,

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progressively there are about 550 now,

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the administration of Amsterdam decided to move them out of the city,

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out of the red district, towards the borders,

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of Germany, Belgium, and France,

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obviously making clear, that the government itself,

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the administration can see that the experiment failed,

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and I would like to put an end to that period.

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Do you think that this is an answer to my question?

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Well if not, forget it.

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I'll hear you, this is your willingness to be challenged?

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I'm not here for a personal debate,

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we are not debating society,

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we want to solve the world drug problem. Period.

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Please sir, you are really out of order. Period.

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No, I posed you a question which is really central to the issue here.

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How do you explain the fact that in Holland

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the levels of use of cannabis are lower than in the surrounding countries.

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This is a very clear question,

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and I would like to know, you must have an explanation for it.

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That the mayor of Amsterdam has decided to do as I just told you. Period.

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You're mistaking him with the mayor of Maastricht,

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thats the first thing, and whether it's ....

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Silenced NGO Partner

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There is a question which you tried to raise several times already.

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When did you raise it first, why did you raise it, why do you think it's important?

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The first time I raised the question was at the DPA meeting in New Orleans,

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and Costa, that he came there himself was very good I think,

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was really okay,

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and after his plenary speech he was in a discussion in a smaller group,

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and there were many questions for him, and there I asked this question already,

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but he simply avoided it,

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and when I came back with the same question,

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he got mad, and he started to scold,

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and he said things like Holland is not the good guy of Europe

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and Holland produces all the amphetamines,

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and Holland poisons Europe, and things like that.

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And again I said, sir you do not answer my question.

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And I thought, in his position, he really, he must have an opinion on this.

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He cannot, he is paid by us tax payers to do this work,

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and he must be able to explain when something like this happens,

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which is contrary to the whole idea of drug prohibition.

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So when I got the opportunity here at the meeting,

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I again asked him the question about the Dutch experiences with coffee shops and with cannabis,

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and how he explains that the usage level is lower in Holland,

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with free availability of cannabis,

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and again he avoids it and he starts to talk about other things,

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and I thought, I should have said clearer

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that the coffee shops are really so objectionable for other countries,

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they want them to disappear, and why?

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Because the coffee shops prove the uselessness of drug prohibition,

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and simply that drug prohibition is not necessary.

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If you are upset by the highest ranking UNODC official not answering a simple but relevant question

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please circulate this film, and ask Mr. Costa this question again at:

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Thank you (PERIOD)

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Transcribed by Anna Fischer
Subtitled by Hunter Holliman