Those who exercise or seek to exercise power generally have a vested interest in pretending that everything is under control, and that is why it really is a pity that the international media pay so little attention to the Netherlands. One of the characteristics that the would-be virtuous Dutch admire most in themselves is their penchant for openness. They even leave the curtains open in the evening. No need for secrecy, even in 'how we deal with dilemmas'. Really tricky, banned by international treaties and so under Dutch law, but we don't really believe in banning things that are going to happen anyway, we want to stop people switching from soft drugs to hard drugs.
Officials smile modestly.
We don't live on an island, so we can't legalise soft drugs, let alone hard drugs. Some countries are corrupt, others have a proper Mafia, the Netherlands has gedogen', the sociologist Hans Adriaansens wrote in the Utrecht University newsletter. National sins come in all shapes and sizes, but it would be overly simplistic to see gedogen as a typically Dutch national weakness, without putting the alternatives into perspective. The alternative to Mafia is no Mafia. The alternative to corruption is honesty.