Will the ‘Wietpas’ become a Campaign Issue?

The Dutch parliament is gearing up for a debate this Thursday on the cabinet’s drug policy, which should offer some light relief from the strains of economic recession. But the proposed introduction of the ‘wietpas’ is making this a major political issue, bringing to the fore its underlying ‘empty conservatism’ and how it completely fails to deal with the main issue – criminality. As discussed in earlier HB posts, there is broad opposition towards Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten’s hard-line conservatism on the soft drugs issue, not least from the very people who are supposed to enforce it: the mayors of many of the towns in the south of the Netherlands. Wading into this policy maelstrom today was D66 MP Boris van der Ham, in an interview on nu.nl.