The Dutch approach to education: Just lay out all the facts

By SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 30, 2001

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Even most non-drug users know that heroin is usually injected while marijuana is almost always smoked. So when the "expert" from the United Nations Drug Control Program talked on CNN about "shooting up" marijuana, one group of viewers could hardly believe its ears.

"I was sitting there with some young people who fell laughing off their couch," says Janhuib Blans of Jellinek, an organization involved in drug counseling and treatment.

As head of Jellinek's prevention program, Blans knows it's hard getting kids to stay away from illegal drugs. It's even harder when they don't trust the adults conveying the anti-drug messages.

"I tell teachers and social workers that if they make mistakes in terms of credibility, they're lost," Blans says. "We're constantly being tested -- if it turns out to be propaganda, we're dead."

The Dutch are sensitive to charges that their drug policies encourage young people to try marijuana and other illegal drugs. The Netherlands isn't much different from the United States when it comes to efforts to keep kids off drugs. In school, children are taught about the dangers of drugs and alcohol; in the mass media, anti-drug campaigns are conducted.

But there is a key difference between the U.S. and Dutch approaches to "drug education." The Dutch take the view that experimenting with illegal substances is a normal part of growing up. As a result, the Dutch say, kids should be given the most accurate information possible so they will know exactly what they're getting into.

The Jellinek Center, for example, has a new campaign: "Want to use drugs? First read the instructions." At rave parties, outreach workers distribute pocket-size pamphlets that list the "positives" and "negatives" of various illegal drugs.

On the positive side of using cocaine, Jellinek says: You might feel bright and talkative. It might give you self-confidence. You might have better sex.

On the negative side: Your heart beats much harder and you breathe faster. You can get anxious. You might become impotent. Afterward, you might feel tired and have sleep disturbances.

Kids helped write the pamphlets. "We interviewed them because the examples and words we use are very important if we want to get connected with them," Blans says. "It's different than 'Just say no,' as Nancy Reagan said smilingly, but we think it's a wise campaign."

There are differences, too, between the U.S. and Dutch approaches to drug education in school. In the United States, the widely used DARE program -- Drug Abuse Resistance Education -- is taught by law enforcement officers.

Blans questions how effective such programs are when approached purely from a law enforcement point of view: "Some kids definitely do not trust the police to give them trustworthy information on drugs unless it's about sentencing."

In Dutch elementary classrooms, police are joined by health education specialists. The police explain the legal consequences of using drugs; the specialists talk about the medical aspects and healthy lifestyles.

Drug use among Dutch youth isn't much out of line with that in other Western democracies, especially in the use of more harmful "hard" drugs. The United State and Australia also have higher percentages than the Dutch of 15- and 16-year olds who have used heroin, cocaine and amphetamines.

Says G.H. van Brussel of Amsterdam's health department: "As long as you're lenient with experimentation, people tend to use their common sense."

-- Anonymous, July 30, 2001

Answers

Hmm, an educational approach. How refreshing.

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001