On March 10, a 23-year-old man’s severed head was displayed at the entrance of a hookah lounge in Amsterdam where drug dealers are known to gather. The rest of the victim’s body was found in a burned-out car on the other side of the city.
It was the latest grisly episode in a conflict between rival gangs that authorities say has produced roughly 20 percent of all murders over the past three years in the Netherlands, a country that has one of the lowest homicide rates in the world.
The feud broke out after a load of cocaine went missing from the harbor in the Belgian city of Antwerp four years ago, and has been blameed for numerous associated killings across the country ever since. The spate of violence shows how even a country known for its progressive drug policies can fall prey to the war on drugs.
The drug war basically started at The Hague with the signing of the International Opium Convention of 1912, the world’s first international drug control treaty. The pact served as a stepping stone to the eventual establishment of the United Nations and the passage of three stringent drug control treaties that have largely determined international drug policy.
Starting on Tuesday, the UN General Assembly will hold a special three-day session in New York to discuss the course of policy for years to come — its first since 1998. Advocates for reform argue that existing policies have caused more harm than good, and even the World Health Organization, the UN’s health agency, has called for harm reduction measures and the decriminalization of drug users.
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