If you keep an eye on the Dutch-Smart blog, you probably saw our article yesterday where we listed 10 great reasons why cannabis is actually really fun to use. Well, it’s not just you and me who think so—many inmates in Dutch prisons feel the same way. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 measures are currently throwing a wrench in their plans, because the supply of cannabis has all but dried up…
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Remarkable proposal
So how exactly does that work? Well, inmates usually get their hands on drugs because they’re smuggled in by visitors. But since COVID-19 hit the country, all visits have been suspended, and that’s creating some tricky situations. Anonymous staff members at Dutch prisons have now sent an urgent letter to the Dutch Ministry of Justice containing a remarkable proposal: “For heaven’s sake, give those inmates their cannabis!”
“Not allowing visitors has resulted in fewer drugs being available. The consequences of this are that tensions are rising and inmates are looking for alternatives. The explosive increase in drugs being thrown over the walls is a clear indicator of this,” the letter states. According to the staff, the situation in prisons risks becoming untenable if the measures continue. So rolling a joint is now strictly off-limits.
Also striking is the part of the letter indicating that inmates are currently requesting much more medication. Medication because there are more sick people? No, not exactly. The medication is reportedly being traded to some extent because it could serve as a “substitute for drugs.” “A number of colleagues even suggest distributing soft drugs or indicate that they are currently not intervening themselves upon discovery of soft drugs,” the letter continues.
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Still, it’s nice to have a joint…
But drugs in prison—that’s not allowed at all, is it? No, you’d think. Yet the reality is different. In principle, cannabis and hashish are, of course, not allowed in prison, but a lively trade in these substances thrives nonetheless, and drug use is commonplace. And whether this is really monitored that strictly is another question. After all, weed sometimes just helps prisoners relax, and a calm prisoner is a good prisoner.
In addition, several studies show that cannabis has many more potentially beneficial effects on the body. For example, many people use it to make anxiety and pain vanish like snow in the sun, but it also makes them creative and relaxed, and it’s said to be a great way to fall asleep. In short: a joint every now and then might not be such a bad idea, but you’d have to be able to get your hands on one first...
