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He he -
though cocaine is not legal over here, it’s seen as a ‘recreational drug’ and as thus not prosecuted that intensely.
I never used it, but I know what it does. I was, long ago, in a therapy group to wean myself off of benzodiazepines (read: valium); thankfully it worked. There was a coke user, a modest guy who didn’t even drink or smoke. But when he got the ‘urge’, he bought a little plastic bag with the devil’s dandruff.
He sniffed. He got into an indescribable high (as he put it). Which lasted, oh, 5 minutes. Then he lost contact with reality. He stole money from his wife’s purse and drove across the German border, deep into that country, deep into the night. Several times he refilled his tank without remembering it. Next thing you know: he found himself back in the German Alps; tank and wallet empty; he’d gotten a bad case of the shakes and had become totally paranoid. He didn’t dare to phone the police for fear of being incarcerated. He phoned his wife in Holland instead. She came with a friend; and collected him some 400 miles from home.
She’s still with him.
Lesson: don’t sniff coke. Don’t even sniff washing powder.

The Dutch tend to be among the most pro-American Europeans out there.

Many years ago, following the gulf war, I participated in a ceremony for the 3rd Armored Division (Spearhead!) in Frankfurt Germany as it was formally folding up it's flag and leaving Germany. A group of private Dutch citizens from a town which the division had liberated during WWII chartered a bus and drove in from the Netherlands to watch the ceremony and say goodbye.

I will never forget a prticular teary eyed gray haired gentleman who eagerly pumped my hand up and down gushing his thanks and attempting to recount to me in broken english just how much the U.S. meant to him and his town and how he would never forget what was done for his village during WWII. I was a bit stunned to say the least, and being a young man in my early 20's, this elderly gentleman could not have failed to realize that I was at least two generations removed from those who had performed the great deed which he was so profusely thankful for. This didn't matter to him, it was America which he was thanking and held dearly in his heart.

Somewhat awkwardly I accepted his tearful thanks on behalf of our country. As I had just recently returned from a war where America had liberated another country I was unshakable in my confidence that America would always stand firm in the face of tyranny and continue to justify such eternal admiration of others. As I listen to my fellow countrymen bellyache about the current war in Iraq and listen to the calls of those who wish to cut and run and leave countless innocents to those who would do them harm I have to admit that an insidious doubt is creeping in as to whether or not future generations will take up the challenge of freeing those who are oppressed when they are called upon to do so.