Heroin Use in The Netherlands

Abstract

This article describes developments in The Netherlands with a special focus on those issues that can be described as “typically Dutch”: the divergent “opium-act,” the methadone buses, the Junkie League, and the plans for heroin maintenance. It also gives an impression of the important role of the Dutch Government in the organization of the relief work system. The article concludes that in some ways the Dutch have learned to live with certain developments, and that they have ceased to look for a one and only solution.