Dare to Act!

The Hungarian Civil Liberties Union is demanding that Dr. Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, give his explanation of a well known fact. In the Netherlands, where adults are allowed to buy and use marijuana, rates of use are actually lower than that of the United States. Significantly lower.

His explanation? Well... he's not quite ready to provide one. At least not one that the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union finds satifactory. Dr. Fredrick Polick, a dutch psychiatrist and leading European drug policy reformer, has asked Costa for his explanation on 4 occasions now.

The HCLU has created created a pretty nifty website to draw attention to this issue. I think you'll especially enjoy the personal introduction from Dr. Polick! You'll find descriptions and video for Polick's 4 "rounds" of questions and a 5th round asking you to put Costa on the spot next.

In 2008, Costa promised to publish a study that explains and provides evidence for his "availability increases use" theory. He's yet to publish it, but that doesn't mean he isn't working on it - SSDP is looking forward to reading it.