Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs

by Johann Hari

Yet the same forces that had pressured Britain into locking down John Marks tried to intimidate the Swiss. The International Narcotics Control Board declared: “Anyone who plays with fire loses control over it,” and said Switzerland was “send[ing] a disastrous signal to countries in which the drugs were produced.” But Ruth Dreifuss was not going to be intimidated by anyone. When the U.S. drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey, visited Europe, he went to the Netherlands and held a press conference at which—like a colonial governor addressing the natives—he berated the Dutch government for their wickedness. He was scheduled to come to Switzerland shortly after. “It was terrible what he said in the Netherlands [about] the cannabis shops,” Ruth says.