Reporter To Use Heroin & Marijuana On TV (To Show Effects)

[matcom]

<snip>

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands --A field reporter for a new Dutch television talk show plans to use heroin and other illegal drugs on the air during the weekly program on issues that concern young people, producers said Wednesday.

The announcement of "Shoot Up and Swallow," scheduled to premiere as a late-night show Oct. 10, sparked an outcry. Even in the liberal Netherlands, where marijuana is sold and used openly, the proposed drug use by reporter Filemon Wesselink is illegal.

"This is dangerous and it sets a bad example," said Pieter Heerma, spokesman for the governing center-right Christian Democrat party. "We're going to ask the justice minister for his view on what the law says about this, and his view on the dangers and risks involved."

Justice Ministry spokesman Ivo Hommes said it was not immediately clear whether Wesselink could be prosecuted. Possession of any amount of heroin is illegal, but in practice police usually do not arrest anyone with less than a half gram of the highly addictive narcotic.

"The actual taking of drugs is a health problem, not a criminal act, though it's obviously hard to take drugs without possessing them first," Hommes said. "In any case, it's not something we endorse, and doing it on television is undesirable."

The show's in-studio host, Sophie Hilbrand, will interview guests about drug use and abuse, while Wesselink appears in segments taped in the field as he experiments with drugs and liquor. Another reporter, Ties Van Westing, will do segments about engaging in sex acts, but not on camera.

For one episode, Wesselink, 26, plans to smoke heroin, said Ingrid Timmer, spokeswoman for the show's producer, BNN. For others, he plans to go on a drinking binge in a series of pubs and to take the hallucinogenic drug LSD -- on his couch under the supervision of his mother.

"It's not our intention to create an outcry. We just want to talk about subjects that are part of young people's lives," Timmer said.

The Netherlands is known for its lenient marijuana policy, under which the sale and use of the drug in small quantities are not prosecuted even though technically illegal. Other drugs, including heroin, LSD, cocaine and Ecstasy, are outlawed, and dealers are prosecuted. The legal age for consumption of alcohol and tobacco is 16.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2005/09/21/dutch_reporter_to_use_heroin_pot_on_tv?mode=PF

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. all we have to do is watch any of our reporters

they all seem drugged to me

[dolo amber]

2. Pfft...*I* could do that

:eyes:

[Seedersandleechers]

3. Wouldn't it be too cool if we had reporters who would

do that in the name of journalism.

[sweetheart]

4. Yea, and even online writers too...

inhale in the name of Gernalizm. :-)

[Fleshdancer]

5. "under the supervision of his mother"

I'm not sure why this makes me laugh, but it does.

[sweetheart]

6. It could be quite a bad trip that

Unless his mother is enlightened, she's
likely laid some trips on this kid in the
years of programming his young mind, and to
lord over him when he's liquid mind is oppressive.

Overthrow the mother and be free.