To me this is all just symptomatic of weak governance and a shift towards granting too much individual liberty when it comes to tackling crime.
When I lived in Luxembourg there were North African drug dealers pestering me to buy drugs within metres of the police station.
I asked a local civil servant why the cops didn’t just go in and arrest them all, since they were openly carrying drugs and pushing them on people, sometimes even in the local playgrounds.
He explained that, once upon a time, the cops had done just that, but that various human rights groups had then sued the police force for hurting the drug dealers’ feelings, claiming that drug dealers were from “vulnerable” groups and that their rights had been violated by “racial profiling”.
So, since that time, the cops had just decided to focus on punishing law abiding people, since that was low risk, and since the human rights do-gooders didn’t mind middle class white people getting stiff penalties for parking their bikes in non-bike-designated areas.
The result of the above was that I had to be mindful crossing the road, because cops who ignored drug dealers selling cocaine meters from my front door, would be waiting to leap on me with a 100 Euro fine if I crossed the road before the light had turned from amber to green. This was actually such a common occurrence that I used to obey this rule, figuring that the risk of a cop or police car emerging from the shadows wasn’t worth the risk of crossing when there were no cars to avoid.
Before going to Luxembourg I had thought it would be some kind of hidden unspoiled paradise. Instead, I found it in the same state I found so many other European cities: dirty, crime-ridden and unfree because crime limited where it was safe to walk and because police created anxiety in law abiding people over petty offences.
Europe has moved closer and closer to freedom for criminals, particularly if they are in “protected groups” and closer to unfreedom for everyone else.
And it is a complete nonsense that such crime is not possible to tackle. El Salvador has just smashed its gangs by locking up 60 000 gangsters in the space of a few months. It has been possible because it’s taken as a given that the rights of law abiding citizens are above those of the criminal class.
So what the author has just described in Belgium and Holland rings depressingly true. I’m only surprised the problem isn’t worse.
Sadly your description would fit many cities in the UK.
Frankly Europeans (including us) lack the moral fibre to fight this war against drugs, and thus we should acknowledge that the war is LOST and legalise the lot, and thus completely the destroy the so called ‘Drug Barons’.
If freedom means anything it means the absolute right to kill oneself with drugs. It’s a matter of Darwinian self selection and should be encouraged NOT persecuted. *
(* Also regardless of the fact that thousands of state employees involved in the Drug Enforcement Industry will be made redundant.)
It’s such an obvious solution (decriminalisation) that the usage might even fall afterwards, since part of its allure, especially with the young, is its illegality.
The notion that drug usage would become any more prevalent than it is now is just nonsense.
So Well put, .. but the political authorities in nu britn will conveniently hand new business opportunities to the former drug barons by attempting to ban smoking and tobacco! It is beyond cretinous that nu britns petit bourgeois Pooters cannot see this?
It’s such an obvious solution (decriminalisation) that the usage might even fall afterwards, since part of its allure, especially with the young, is its illegality.
The notion that drug usage would become any more prevalent than it is now is just nonsense.
So Well put, .. but the political authorities in nu britn will conveniently hand new business opportunities to the former drug barons by attempting to ban smoking and tobacco! It is beyond cretinous that nu britns petit bourgeois Pooters cannot see this?
El Salvador wouldn’t be known for its unwavering commitment to due process and fair procedures. It’s very easy to “lock up” 60,000 people when you dispense with fair frials. Or any trials.
How do you make a liberal into a conservative? Burgle his house.
How do you make a conservative into a liberal? Arrest him.
The reality is that many of us may find ourselves on the wrong end of the criminal justice system at some time in our lives, and the presumption of innocence applies to all. There’s really no other fair way to work it. I agree that the drugs trade is out of control, but there is simply too much money to be made in it for it to ever disappear, regardless of sentences. As far as I can see, the only way to take money and power out of the hands of crime gangs is for the State to be the distributor and regulator of the illegal substances trade. However, that might also lead to a ferocious backlash from gangs at the loss of their income and status.
The one thing I do know is that the drugs trade is not going away.
Sadly your description would fit many cities in the UK.
Frankly Europeans (including us) lack the moral fibre to fight this war against drugs, and thus we should acknowledge that the war is LOST and legalise the lot, and thus completely the destroy the so called ‘Drug Barons’.
If freedom means anything it means the absolute right to kill oneself with drugs. It’s a matter of Darwinian self selection and should be encouraged NOT persecuted. *
(* Also regardless of the fact that thousands of state employees involved in the Drug Enforcement Industry will be made redundant.)
El Salvador wouldn’t be known for its unwavering commitment to due process and fair procedures. It’s very easy to “lock up” 60,000 people when you dispense with fair frials. Or any trials.
How do you make a liberal into a conservative? Burgle his house.
How do you make a conservative into a liberal? Arrest him.
The reality is that many of us may find ourselves on the wrong end of the criminal justice system at some time in our lives, and the presumption of innocence applies to all. There’s really no other fair way to work it. I agree that the drugs trade is out of control, but there is simply too much money to be made in it for it to ever disappear, regardless of sentences. As far as I can see, the only way to take money and power out of the hands of crime gangs is for the State to be the distributor and regulator of the illegal substances trade. However, that might also lead to a ferocious backlash from gangs at the loss of their income and status.
The one thing I do know is that the drugs trade is not going away.
hayden eastwood
1 year ago
To me this is all just symptomatic of weak governance and a shift towards granting too much individual liberty when it comes to tackling crime.
When I lived in Luxembourg there were North African drug dealers pestering me to buy drugs within metres of the police station.
I asked a local civil servant why the cops didn’t just go in and arrest them all, since they were openly carrying drugs and pushing them on people, sometimes even in the local playgrounds.
He explained that, once upon a time, the cops had done just that, but that various human rights groups had then sued the police force for hurting the drug dealers’ feelings, claiming that drug dealers were from “vulnerable” groups and that their rights had been violated by “racial profiling”.
So, since that time, the cops had just decided to focus on punishing law abiding people, since that was low risk, and since the human rights do-gooders didn’t mind middle class white people getting stiff penalties for parking their bikes in non-bike-designated areas.
The result of the above was that I had to be mindful crossing the road, because cops who ignored drug dealers selling cocaine meters from my front door, would be waiting to leap on me with a 100 Euro fine if I crossed the road before the light had turned from amber to green. This was actually such a common occurrence that I used to obey this rule, figuring that the risk of a cop or police car emerging from the shadows wasn’t worth the risk of crossing when there were no cars to avoid.
Before going to Luxembourg I had thought it would be some kind of hidden unspoiled paradise. Instead, I found it in the same state I found so many other European cities: dirty, crime-ridden and unfree because crime limited where it was safe to walk and because police created anxiety in law abiding people over petty offences.
Europe has moved closer and closer to freedom for criminals, particularly if they are in “protected groups” and closer to unfreedom for everyone else.
And it is a complete nonsense that such crime is not possible to tackle. El Salvador has just smashed its gangs by locking up 60 000 gangsters in the space of a few months. It has been possible because it’s taken as a given that the rights of law abiding citizens are above those of the criminal class.
So what the author has just described in Belgium and Holland rings depressingly true. I’m only surprised the problem isn’t worse.
Nell Clover
1 year ago
No mention of the i word.
Homogenous* societies simply don’t afford the kind of cracks needed for large scale illegal, violent, economic activity to take place. And highly developed countries don’t produce enough people skilled in violence needed to work these illegal economies.
The Netherlands’ narco economy is almost entirely operated by recent arrivals. This is no coincidence. If you don’t have the workers, you won’t produce the product.
Last edited 1 year ago by Nell Clover
Nell Clover
1 year ago
No mention of the i word.
Homogenous* societies simply don’t afford the kind of cracks needed for large scale illegal, violent, economic activity to take place. And highly developed countries don’t produce enough people skilled in violence needed to work these illegal economies.
The Netherlands’ narco economy is almost entirely operated by recent arrivals. This is no coincidence. If you don’t have the workers, you won’t produce the product.
Not sure how capitalism is supposed to be violent. If we don’t want to buy your shit, we won’t buy your shit. What are you (eg Tesco) going to do about it? Torture us?
Forgive me if I’m missing the point here but I just don’t get how capitalism is linked with “the threat of violence”. In fact, it’s governments which are, ultimately, backed by this.
Katherine Finn
1 year ago
Not sure how capitalism is supposed to be violent. If we don’t want to buy your shit, we won’t buy your shit. What are you (eg Tesco) going to do about it? Torture us?
Forgive me if I’m missing the point here but I just don’t get how capitalism is linked with “the threat of violence”. In fact, it’s governments which are, ultimately, backed by this.
JP Martin
1 year ago
“The criminals here speak the same language (…)”.
Yes, but it’s not Dutch.
Last edited 1 year ago by JP Martin
JP Martin
1 year ago
“The criminals here speak the same language (…)”.
Yes, but it’s not Dutch.
Last edited 1 year ago by JP Martin
Nicky Samengo-Turner
1 year ago
Did not Churchill say that Belgium has no reason to exist?
To me this is all just symptomatic of weak governance and a shift towards granting too much individual liberty when it comes to tackling crime.
When I lived in Luxembourg there were North African drug dealers pestering me to buy drugs within metres of the police station.
I asked a local civil servant why the cops didn’t just go in and arrest them all, since they were openly carrying drugs and pushing them on people, sometimes even in the local playgrounds.
He explained that, once upon a time, the cops had done just that, but that various human rights groups had then sued the police force for hurting the drug dealers’ feelings, claiming that drug dealers were from “vulnerable” groups and that their rights had been violated by “racial profiling”.
So, since that time, the cops had just decided to focus on punishing law abiding people, since that was low risk, and since the human rights do-gooders didn’t mind middle class white people getting stiff penalties for parking their bikes in non-bike-designated areas.
The result of the above was that I had to be mindful crossing the road, because cops who ignored drug dealers selling cocaine meters from my front door, would be waiting to leap on me with a 100 Euro fine if I crossed the road before the light had turned from amber to green. This was actually such a common occurrence that I used to obey this rule, figuring that the risk of a cop or police car emerging from the shadows wasn’t worth the risk of crossing when there were no cars to avoid.
Before going to Luxembourg I had thought it would be some kind of hidden unspoiled paradise. Instead, I found it in the same state I found so many other European cities: dirty, crime-ridden and unfree because crime limited where it was safe to walk and because police created anxiety in law abiding people over petty offences.
Europe has moved closer and closer to freedom for criminals, particularly if they are in “protected groups” and closer to unfreedom for everyone else.
And it is a complete nonsense that such crime is not possible to tackle. El Salvador has just smashed its gangs by locking up 60 000 gangsters in the space of a few months. It has been possible because it’s taken as a given that the rights of law abiding citizens are above those of the criminal class.
So what the author has just described in Belgium and Holland rings depressingly true. I’m only surprised the problem isn’t worse.
Sadly your description would fit many cities in the UK.
Frankly Europeans (including us) lack the moral fibre to fight this war against drugs, and thus we should acknowledge that the war is LOST and legalise the lot, and thus completely the destroy the so called ‘Drug Barons’.
If freedom means anything it means the absolute right to kill oneself with drugs. It’s a matter of Darwinian self selection and should be encouraged NOT persecuted. *
(* Also regardless of the fact that thousands of state employees involved in the Drug Enforcement Industry will be made redundant.)
It’s such an obvious solution (decriminalisation) that the usage might even fall afterwards, since part of its allure, especially with the young, is its illegality.
The notion that drug usage would become any more prevalent than it is now is just nonsense.
So Well put, .. but the political authorities in nu britn will conveniently hand new business opportunities to the former drug barons by attempting to ban smoking and tobacco! It is beyond cretinous that nu britns petit bourgeois Pooters cannot see this?
It’s such an obvious solution (decriminalisation) that the usage might even fall afterwards, since part of its allure, especially with the young, is its illegality.
The notion that drug usage would become any more prevalent than it is now is just nonsense.
So Well put, .. but the political authorities in nu britn will conveniently hand new business opportunities to the former drug barons by attempting to ban smoking and tobacco! It is beyond cretinous that nu britns petit bourgeois Pooters cannot see this?
El Salvador wouldn’t be known for its unwavering commitment to due process and fair procedures. It’s very easy to “lock up” 60,000 people when you dispense with fair frials. Or any trials.
How do you make a liberal into a conservative? Burgle his house.
How do you make a conservative into a liberal? Arrest him.
The reality is that many of us may find ourselves on the wrong end of the criminal justice system at some time in our lives, and the presumption of innocence applies to all. There’s really no other fair way to work it. I agree that the drugs trade is out of control, but there is simply too much money to be made in it for it to ever disappear, regardless of sentences. As far as I can see, the only way to take money and power out of the hands of crime gangs is for the State to be the distributor and regulator of the illegal substances trade. However, that might also lead to a ferocious backlash from gangs at the loss of their income and status.
The one thing I do know is that the drugs trade is not going away.
Sadly your description would fit many cities in the UK.
Frankly Europeans (including us) lack the moral fibre to fight this war against drugs, and thus we should acknowledge that the war is LOST and legalise the lot, and thus completely the destroy the so called ‘Drug Barons’.
If freedom means anything it means the absolute right to kill oneself with drugs. It’s a matter of Darwinian self selection and should be encouraged NOT persecuted. *
(* Also regardless of the fact that thousands of state employees involved in the Drug Enforcement Industry will be made redundant.)
El Salvador wouldn’t be known for its unwavering commitment to due process and fair procedures. It’s very easy to “lock up” 60,000 people when you dispense with fair frials. Or any trials.
How do you make a liberal into a conservative? Burgle his house.
How do you make a conservative into a liberal? Arrest him.
The reality is that many of us may find ourselves on the wrong end of the criminal justice system at some time in our lives, and the presumption of innocence applies to all. There’s really no other fair way to work it. I agree that the drugs trade is out of control, but there is simply too much money to be made in it for it to ever disappear, regardless of sentences. As far as I can see, the only way to take money and power out of the hands of crime gangs is for the State to be the distributor and regulator of the illegal substances trade. However, that might also lead to a ferocious backlash from gangs at the loss of their income and status.
The one thing I do know is that the drugs trade is not going away.
To me this is all just symptomatic of weak governance and a shift towards granting too much individual liberty when it comes to tackling crime.
When I lived in Luxembourg there were North African drug dealers pestering me to buy drugs within metres of the police station.
I asked a local civil servant why the cops didn’t just go in and arrest them all, since they were openly carrying drugs and pushing them on people, sometimes even in the local playgrounds.
He explained that, once upon a time, the cops had done just that, but that various human rights groups had then sued the police force for hurting the drug dealers’ feelings, claiming that drug dealers were from “vulnerable” groups and that their rights had been violated by “racial profiling”.
So, since that time, the cops had just decided to focus on punishing law abiding people, since that was low risk, and since the human rights do-gooders didn’t mind middle class white people getting stiff penalties for parking their bikes in non-bike-designated areas.
The result of the above was that I had to be mindful crossing the road, because cops who ignored drug dealers selling cocaine meters from my front door, would be waiting to leap on me with a 100 Euro fine if I crossed the road before the light had turned from amber to green. This was actually such a common occurrence that I used to obey this rule, figuring that the risk of a cop or police car emerging from the shadows wasn’t worth the risk of crossing when there were no cars to avoid.
Before going to Luxembourg I had thought it would be some kind of hidden unspoiled paradise. Instead, I found it in the same state I found so many other European cities: dirty, crime-ridden and unfree because crime limited where it was safe to walk and because police created anxiety in law abiding people over petty offences.
Europe has moved closer and closer to freedom for criminals, particularly if they are in “protected groups” and closer to unfreedom for everyone else.
And it is a complete nonsense that such crime is not possible to tackle. El Salvador has just smashed its gangs by locking up 60 000 gangsters in the space of a few months. It has been possible because it’s taken as a given that the rights of law abiding citizens are above those of the criminal class.
So what the author has just described in Belgium and Holland rings depressingly true. I’m only surprised the problem isn’t worse.
No mention of the i word.
Homogenous* societies simply don’t afford the kind of cracks needed for large scale illegal, violent, economic activity to take place. And highly developed countries don’t produce enough people skilled in violence needed to work these illegal economies.
The Netherlands’ narco economy is almost entirely operated by recent arrivals. This is no coincidence. If you don’t have the workers, you won’t produce the product.
No mention of the i word.
Homogenous* societies simply don’t afford the kind of cracks needed for large scale illegal, violent, economic activity to take place. And highly developed countries don’t produce enough people skilled in violence needed to work these illegal economies.
The Netherlands’ narco economy is almost entirely operated by recent arrivals. This is no coincidence. If you don’t have the workers, you won’t produce the product.
Time to end prohibition.
Well said.
Well said.
Time to end prohibition.
Not sure how capitalism is supposed to be violent. If we don’t want to buy your shit, we won’t buy your shit. What are you (eg Tesco) going to do about it? Torture us?
Forgive me if I’m missing the point here but I just don’t get how capitalism is linked with “the threat of violence”. In fact, it’s governments which are, ultimately, backed by this.
Not sure how capitalism is supposed to be violent. If we don’t want to buy your shit, we won’t buy your shit. What are you (eg Tesco) going to do about it? Torture us?
Forgive me if I’m missing the point here but I just don’t get how capitalism is linked with “the threat of violence”. In fact, it’s governments which are, ultimately, backed by this.
“The criminals here speak the same language (…)”.
Yes, but it’s not Dutch.
“The criminals here speak the same language (…)”.
Yes, but it’s not Dutch.
Did not Churchill say that Belgium has no reason to exist?
De Gaulle is said to have remarked “that England created Belgium to annoy France.”
De Gaulle is said to have remarked “that England created Belgium to annoy France.”
Did not Churchill say that Belgium has no reason to exist?
..