NORML Nominates Dutch Drug Policy For Nobel Prize

New Drug Policy Reform Project: Netherlands for Nobel Peace Prize

January 4, 2008

Dear NORML Supporters and Allies:

Netherlands For Nobel

Inspired by the recent success of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore in
awakening the world to the dangers of global warming by receiving the
Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy work, the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is beginning the New Year by
coordinating the nomination of the Netherlands for a Nobel Prize for its
achievements in minimizing drug use in its citizens, while at the same
time restricting imprisonment.

With few peers at the international level and despite tremendous
pressure from the United States, the Dutch government and its people
have proven for more than 30 years that it is more cost effective,
humane, and practical to be "smart on drugs" rather than "tough on drugs."

The following quotes from physician Stephen H. Frye’s forthcoming book
Twenty-five Reasons to Legalize Drugs - We Really Lost This War!
document the validity and appropriateness of this nomination:

"The drug war, not the drugs, kills people.

"This is now a real war. Although it started out as political rhetoric,
it’s become a genuinely deadly conflict...It has caused hundreds of
thousands of unnecessary deaths and untold misery, especially to our
children, teens, women, and minorities. And like all wars, it’s been
hugely expensive and wasteful; to date, it has cost more than a trillion
dollars. And this is just in the United States; the international
devastation is incomprehensible. Furthermore, like many wars, it’s based
on lies.

"The few deaths that are caused by the drugs are due to impurities,
dosages that are not standardized, and reluctance to call 911 when
someone overdoses out of fear of being arrested. Replacing prohibition
with sensible health-oriented alternatives, including legalizing
currently illicit drugs, can eliminate these drug-related deaths.

"The Dutch should be recognized for their remarkable human rights
achievement of regulating and decriminalizing drugs and equally
important, offering comprehensive treatment to its affected citizens.
The number of lives they have saved, as well as assaults, robberies,
rapes, child abuse, and other prohibition-related criminal activities
that they’ve prevented, is a major humanitarian and public health
accomplishment. Their success in minimizing the catastrophic effects of
the War on Drugs cannot be overstated. For example, the U.S. has six
times as many people in prisons as the Netherlands per capita, and still
we have four times their murder rate. Compared to ours, the Dutch prison
population is negligible and they actually provide education and
rehabilitation for their inmates. Furthermore, their incidence of AIDS
and hepatitis is a fraction of ours.

"Taken together, these groundbreaking medical, human rights and
humanitarian accomplishments are of unprecedented magnitude. They not
only serve as an inspiration to the rest of the world, they also demand
emulation. Because of this, it is recommended that Louk Hulsman,
Professor Emeritus of Criminal Law at the University of Rotterdam, who
was originally responsible for crafting the forward-thinking drug policy
in the Netherlands and the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports,
who administer their very successful current drug policies, be nominated
for a Nobel Peace Prize."

The world owes a great debt of gratitude to them, along with many
thousands of activists, academics, and religious and business leaders,
for demonstrating that a scientifically-crafted harm reduction drug
policy based on researched public health models, not an unyielding
prohibition, prison oriented model, results in a healthier, safer, and
less imprisoned population—that also uses fewer drugs.

The deadline for submission is February 1, 2008, and according to the
Nobel Prize webpage, people from every country can nominate, but it is
limited to members of national assemblies, governments, and
international courts of law; university chancellors, professors of
social science, history, philosophy, law and theology; leaders of peace
research institutes and institutes of foreign affairs; Nobel Peace Prize
Laureates of previous years; board members of organizations that have
received the Nobel Peace Prize; present and past members of the
Norwegian Nobel Committee; and former advisors of the Nobel Institute.

Nobel Nomination Process Information

All that is necessary is for a qualified nominator, as listed above, to
send a letter to Geir Lundestad, Ph.D., Director, Norwegian Nobel
Institute, Henrik Ibsens gate 51, NO-0255, Oslo, Norway, indicating the
names of those nominated and the reason for the nomination, and it must
be received by February 1, 2008.

Dr. Frye has also documented that not only is this very real War on
Drugs far more devastating and deadly than the drugs themselves, but
prison is also much more destructive, catastrophic and even more deadly
than the drugs.

The Dutch have shown us the path to peace and now is the time to
recognize their achievement.

While NORML is a cannabis-only reform organization, by nominating and
educating the world about the success of the Netherlands’s drug policy,
we are committed to using this public campaign as the first high impact
project for worldwide drug policy reform in this New Year. This e-mail
is being sent to U.S. and international drug policy organizations,
seeking the names and contacts of qualified Nobel Prize nominators. The
email is also being sent to organizations for children, teens, women,
minorities, and the environment, as all these people and the environment
are severely harmed and actually killed by the drug war.

It is time to stimulate this crucially important worldwide conversation,
and this is a project all drug policy reform and civic-minded groups,
regardless of their mission statements, can support. The webpage and
other promotional campaigns in support of this nomination have been
launched, but gathering qualified nominators needs to be the first step
as there is a short deadline. Please ask nominators to send their
letters directly to the Nobel Institute, and also notify NORML at
nobel@norml.org as we are coordinating and
tracking this campaign.

Also, please feel free to forward this email notice to all relevant
organizations and anyone you feel can assist this ‘Netherlands For
Nobel’ movement—especially qualified Nobel Peace Prize nominators.

It is truly time to end the drug war and start the peace process. Thank
you in advance and best wishes for an exciting 2008 pursuing the Nobel
Peace Prize for this most noble cause.

Aspire Higher in 08,

Allen St. Pierre

Executive Director
NORML/NORML Foundation
Washington, DC
director@norml.org
http://www.norml.org
http://www.Netherlands4Nobel.org