Dutch Police Insist on Smoking Marijuana Off-Duty

Apparently, American tourists aren’t the only ones enjoying Amsterdam's coffeeshops:

Police in Amsterdam are complaining over new rules banning them from smoking cannabis while off duty.

Officers in the Dutch capital, famous for its liberal drugs laws, have been told they must set the public "a good moral example". [Daily Mail]

Oh, whatever. There's nothing immoral about using marijuana and no reason to look to off-duty police for moral leadership.

…Dutch police union chairman Hans van Duijn said: "Many of our members are opposed to this.

"They are not paid for 24-hours a day. What they do in their free time is up to them."

It may seem strange to encounter law-enforcement officers agitating for the right to use marijuana, but their argument is perfectly legitimate. Marijuana is only intoxicating for a short period of time, after which one becomes sober again. There's simply no reason on earth why police shouldn’t be allowed to enjoy marijuana off-duty.

But if you live in a country where this is the biggest drug policy controversy of the day, you probably have more to be grateful for than to complain about.