Ha ha - yesterday I went on an excursion out to some storm surge barrier (designed only to be closed once every 10 years, and to last for 100-150 (well that's based not on how long the steel can hold out
but on sea level rise!). Very cool (boys toys
) anyway it turns out that although drugs are much more available than in the UK only 1/3 of those there (all students) had tried hash... so considering that I think the fraction would be much higher in the UK I think the system works.
One of the guys said he was on holiday in Aus and more than once people came up to him asking "psst wanna buy...?" and he's like NO! Another (UK) friend of mine who went to Miami and was just shocked at the availability of drugs - once again he was bothered in the street. So his argument is that people smoke hash in coffeshops and therefore it's compartmentalised and away from the major population. I really think it works. People argue that it opens up avenues for harder drugs, and I wouldn't know about that.
It's still illegal to grow hash in the Netherlands, it does happen but it's illegal. It takes a lot of power (UV light) and warmth so the police look at energy bills, last winter when it snowed they also looked to see if any homes had defrosted rooves - which was a good indicator that it would be hot enough inside to grow hash
