The Dutch have often paved the way for progressive policy on drug possession and narcotic enforcement – and, if nothing else, Amsterdam is the capital of anything goes.
It’s fitting, then, that a dance festival in Amsterdam is seeing new policy put into action – as city-wide laws officially allow punters to carry up to five ecstasy pills without risk of prosecution—aside from being ejected from the festival if caught—on site.
Previously, the policy already accepted possession of ecstasy, but capped (hur hur) the amount each punter could carry at one pill.
Which was probably generous policy enough, truth be told.
Portrait of ADE punters just waiting for their mate Molly.
The Amsterdam Dance Event is being held over the next three days in the city, featuring headliners Tiesto, David Guetta and Oakenfold.
While Holland is lax about some drugs, ecstasy isn’t *techincally* one of them. While there’s been a strong push for the legalisation of ecstasy in the country by youth organisation the Liberal Democrats, the drug remains illegal. If punters at ADE were found to be carrying five pingers, it would be up to public prosecutors to press charges.
The move has copped some criticism – President of the People’s Party for Freedom & Democracy spoke on a Dutch TV station, slamming the new policy and amount of ecstasy now “allowed” for attendees:
“I find five pills too much for one person. You could perhaps be well off with just one. But we actually believe that you should not do it at all. It is dangerous, you do not know what it contains. It is forbidden.”
Importantly, at last year’s ADE, the death of three attendees were linked to drug use – with one woman among those deaths directly related to ecstasy use, according to reports.
Via NME.
