Some call the Dutch pioneers of progressiveness. Others wonder if they're not degenerates. Yet, although all these laws attracted worldwide attention, their evolution was so gradual that the Dutch hardly noticed when they were finally adopted and quietly to effect. All were debated for decades, then carefully crafted into bills reflecting a broad consensus. The Dutch say they are just as conservative as other Europeans, only more sensible about dealing with alternative lifestyles, employing an art of pragmatism drawn from deep in their history.
Decriminalization gives authorities greater control over activities that happen anyway, they argue.
After the Netherlands overturned a widely ignored 1912 ban on brothels last year, these houses became taxpaying establishments required to give standard employee benefits. The law also was designed to weed out illegal immigrants, underage girls and forced prostitution. Euthanasia traditionally accounts for about 3,500 deaths a year in the Netherlands, a rate the Dutch say is secretly matched in other countries. But the law passed in April firmly regulates the conditions under which doctors may help patients end their lives. Far from being a homogenous nation, the Netherlands is a patchwork of minorities and subcultures, said Mr. van der Horst, author of The Low Sky , a book intended to explain the Dutch to uncomprehending outsiders.