August de Loor has been a drugs policy advisor and social worker in Amsterdam for 50 years. Here he explains the social benefits of separating soft and hard drugs through the communal use of cannabis in the coffeeshop system in Amsterdam. August discusses developments in drug culture and recalls his community initiatives including working closely with heroin users and starting a needle exchange as well as running a drug-testing project for many years. August advocates for a “Third Way” of dealing with drugs which comes from society rather than the criminalisation of drug use or the medicalisation of drug rehabilitation.
The audio of this episode has been archivedÂ
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