GroenLinks, a green political party in the Netherlands, wants the government to regulate ecstasy production. Kathalijne Buitenweg, a member of parliament, stated the regulation should occur so they can remove the party drug out of the criminal circuit. The Netherlands have had an increasing amount of criminal activity, specifically in the southern region of the country. Just last year alone, police broke up 127 drugs labs in Brabant and 57 in Limburg.
Buitenweg believes it is not as much of a case of health, but more the worry of criminal activity increasing. The big question becomes why is alcohol freely available but ecstasy is banned? Seems very similar to here in the States and our ongoing battle with marijuana legalization. If experts are right and MDMA is less harmful than alcohol, why not make it legal?
One study found 6 out of 10 partygoers use the drug. If the government could regulate it, there would be specific quality requirements. This would ultimately lead it to being safer. She further went on to state a discouragement policy should be set up. There must be active information about the risks of MDMA and a ban on advertising. Mayor of Breda, Paul Depla, had this to say about the issue:
“Hard against the criminal, gentle on the user. Give me one argument why alcohol is freely available and xtc must be banned? I am talking to the experts. They tell me: xtc is less harmful than alcohol.”
The Netherlands currently holds the position of the biggest producer of MDMA in the world. Last year the country produced a massive 972 million pills. This regulation seems like it would be beneficial to the country as a whole. Users could feel better about consuming the drug knowing what exactly is in it. This would also hopefully reduce criminal activity and stop the production of ecstasy in illegal drug labs.