Is government finally wising up to legalizing marijuana?

Earlier this week, Tom Ammiano, a California Democrat recently elected to the state legislature, announced that he was introducing a bill that would “tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol” in the state of California. According to Mr. Ammiano, the Assembly Bill 390 would impose a tax of $50 per ounce on marijuana sales. “With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes”, said Ammiano. “California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana.”

I'm Dutch. And, believe it or not, I have never smoked marijuana. You might be surprised, but most Dutch people have no interest in marijuana. Few of my American friends can believe that. If I say, I'm Dutch, their eyes start rolling, they whisper "Amsterdam" and they think about the free world of drugs. But here's the key thing: I grew up in a country where soft drugs were easily available and -- I argue -- because of that they were never really of any interest to my friends and myself.

In the nice neighborhood around our home in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, I would have to be lucky to find someone smoking marijuana on a given Saturday night. Around where we live now, close to San Francisco, it feels like there are drugs in the homes of all our neighbors. If anyone needs an argument for the legalization of soft drugs, my experience of the two worlds of The Netherlands and the United States should be a compelling one. Drugs are a huge problem in the US, whereas they present a manageable challenge in The Netherlands.

Recently I had dinner in Amsterdam with a few American friends. At the end of the evening all of them became restless. They had to leave the cozy restaurant to walk into the terrible weather outside. Only in the cold rain I realized the reason for the abrupt end of the evening: it was yet again time for them to visit a "coffee shop", the rather odd name the Dutch use for the places where soft drugs are legally sold. Gone was the nice evening. I felt pity for them.

Please, America, give up on this hypocrisy. Let marijuana be free, not just for medical purposes. And tax it heavily. Yes it will help to get states out of debt. However, you will also be pleasantly surprised how many more problems legalization will solve.