Jury still out on government's hash crackdown
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/local/87-local/48547-jury-still-out-on-governments-hash-crackdown.html
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Politicians generally agree that the past years' police raids on
Christiania's hash trade have been unsuccessful, but they differ on
forwarding a viable solution
It was exactly six years ago this week that police conducted their
first full-scale raid on Pusher Street, the famed road in the city's
Christiania area where people could openly buy hashish.
The raids were the result of the Liberal-Conservative government's
decision to crack down hard on the area's hash trade. But today, both
police and politicians admit that the trade still thrives on the
street, if in a somewhat more discreet fashion.
A major difference between now and then is that the dealing is now
controlled by the hardest groups of pushers, who have managed to
withstand the regular raids. Police say that some of those people
have gang connections, and much of the past year's gang warfare has
been directly linked to the drug trade.
'If the goal was to stop the trafficking of hashish in Christiania,
then it has absolutely not succeeded,' Peter Ibsen, president of the
Police Officers Federation, told MetroXpress newspaper. 'I think the
best thing you can say is that the booths are gone in Pusher Street.
But hash is still being sold as much as it ever was.'
Those booths have instead been traded in by sellers for fold-up
tables and wooden blocks featuring the various types of hashish and
pot on offer.
According to police, the main reason why they have failed to
completely stop the hash trade is that it requires enormous resources.
Politicians are still split on the matter, with the left-of-centre
parties believing that things were better at Christiania when it was
left to its own devices.
'So far a ban and a massive police operation have not produced any
results,' said Karina Lorentzen, legal spokeswoman for the Socialist
People's Party. 'We simply have to study the situation more
thoroughly so we can get some better ideas of how we deal with
marijuana trafficking and the increasing misuse of hash.'
Lorentzen said the only thing the police raids have done has been to
spread the hashish trade out into the rest of Copenhagen. She has
proposed that the government set up a hash commission to examine the
issue more closely.
Kirsten Larsen, a Christiania resident and member of the Christiania
press group, believes there may even be more dealing now than there
was six years ago.
'Anybody can see that Pusher Street is alive and functioning. I'd
even say the trade is growing because there may not be enough funding
available for the same massive police actions that began in 2004,' she said.
Larsen said that one noticeable difference, however, is the somewhat
more tense atmosphere of the area, which is in stark contrast to the
period before 2004. She said it can often feel as if 'eyes nervously
follow you around'.
'But that's because the police raids have left only the hardest
criminals controlling the trade. And that inevitably means that we
have to fight internally to keep the harder drugs out of Christiania.'
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Hash Crackdown in Copenhagen's Christiania Didn't Work
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/624/denmark_christiania_hash_crackdown_did_not_work
3/19/10
In a classic example of the unintended consequences of prohibitionist
drug policies, the Copenhagen Post reported Thursday that six years
after the conservative Danish government began its crackdown on
Christiania's famous Pusher Street, the hash trade not only still
exists, but has spread throughout Copenhagen and has gotten harder-edged.
Christiania is a neighborhood in Copenhagen that sits on the grounds
of a former military base taken over by young radicals back in the
1970s. Over the decades, Christiania has fought to maintain its
autonomy and self-rule, and has remained a bastion of counterculture
values. But it is under unceasing assault by the Danish government.
Part of that assault has been the crackdown on Pusher Street, where
soft drug sales were long tolerated by the Christiania community, and
where, according to the Post, they still take place, albeit in a more
subterranean fashion.
"If the goal was to stop the trafficking of hashish in Christiania,
then it has absolutely not succeeded," Peter Ibsen, president of the
Police Officers Federation, told MetroXpress newspaper. "I think the
best thing you can say is that the booths are gone in Pusher Street.
But hash is still being sold as much as it ever was."
"Anybody can see that Pusher Street is alive and functioning,"
confirmed Kirsten Larsen, a Christiania resident and spokesperson.
"I'd even say the trade is growing because there may not be enough
funding available for the same massive police actions that began in
2004," she said.
But the atmosphere has changed for the worse, Larsen said. "Eyes
nervously follow you around now," she said. "But that's because the
police raids have left only the hardest criminals controlling the
trade. And that inevitably means that we have to fight internally to
keep the harder drugs out of Christiania."
Police concede that not only has their crackdown not stopped hash
sales, it has benefited the hardest dealers, some with gang
connections. Gang violence related to the trade in prohibited drugs
has been on the increase.
While the conservative government continues to support the crackdown,
politicians on the left said that things were better when the police
left Christiania alone. There needs to be a new approach they said.
"So far a ban and a massive police operation have not produced any
results," said Karina Lorentzen, legal spokeswoman for the Socialist
People's Party. "We simply have to study the situation more
thoroughly so we can get some better ideas of how we deal with
marijuana trafficking and the increasing misuse of hash."
The primary accomplishment of the crackdown has been to spread the
hash trade throughout Copenhagen, Lorentzen added. She has proposed
the government create a hash commission to study the issue.
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