-------------------------------------------------------------------

Arcata Police Chief Finds 'Local Solution' To Pot Law (The Sacramento Bee
looks favorably on the registry system for medical marijuana patients
instituted by Mel Brown, the top cop in Arcata, California.)

Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 16:12:43 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US CA: Arcata Police Chief Finds 'Local Solution' To Pot Law
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Chris Clay, chris@thecompassionclub.org
Pubdate: Fri, 23 April 1999
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 1999 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: opinion@sacbee.com
Address: P.O.Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852
Feedback: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html
AUTHOR: M.S. Enkoji, Bee staff writer

ARCATA POLICE CHIEF FINDS 'LOCAL SOLUTION' TO POT LAW

ARCATA -- In the chill of a spring afternoon, Charles McDowell gripped the
bowl of a pipe with fingers gnarled with cherry-sized knots from arthritis.

He raised the pipe to his lips, closed his eyes and dragged mightily on the
orange glow as if his life depended on it. Some days, it feels like it does.

"Yeah, see," said McDowell, spreading his fingers as wisps of smoke curled
from his nostrils. "I take steroids and all, but nothing helps like this."

Marijuana takes the edge off the pain racking his hands so he can get on
with his life, McDowell swears -- and his doctor agrees.

Luckily for him, he lives in this seaside college town, a sort of ground
zero for the legal thorn bush of Proposition 215, the voter initiative that
legalized marijuana for medical use.

And luckily for him, Mel Brown is here.

"Mel Brown is the bravest police chief in America," McDowell said with a
throaty cough as he exhaled.

Around his neck, a laminated card glinted in the hazy sunlight, a card that
lets McDowell, 44, relax in a city park and fire up as officers stroll past.

The police chief gave him the card, even snapped the Polaroid for it.

A no-nonsense, straight-by-the-book kind of guy in sport coat and starchy
white shirt, Brown commands a small-town police force with a big-city
vision.

"I kind of pride myself on taking risks," he said, parking his linebacker
hulkiness behind his desk.

In the palm of a beefy hand, he holds his latest risk: a picture
identification card, saying the holder has a medical condition relieved by
marijuana.

"We're just trying to find local solutions to local problems," Brown said,
offering a simple explanation for a notion that could reverberate statewide.

Card-holders present them to police officers if caught with small amounts of
marijuana, less than a half-ounce or no more than 10 plants. The card-holder
avoids arrest and a trip to court to prove his or her medical condition. The
city of Arcata saves the officer four hours of court duty.

And for people like McDowell, their personal supply doesn't get confiscated
and destroyed.

McDowell is happy. Brown is satisfied. It's an unlikely alliance.

Largely regarded as a legal land mine, Proposition 215 raised more questions
than it answered after voters passed it in 1997: How much pot is reasonable
for medical use? And what kinds of illnesses will it help? And the biggest
quandary is how do medical users escape federal arrest since federal law
doesn't permit medical use?

A state task force drew together marijuana experts, medical and law
enforcement representatives, including Brown, to ponder those issues, and is
planning to propose a legal strategy within a month. New state laws might be
necessary, though, or even another consideration by voters.

Some kind of registration is one of the ideas being considered, said Terry
Farmer, Humboldt County's district attorney, who also sits on the task
force.

Representatives of the state Department of Justice called Arcata's approach
innovative, but held off on endorsing any ideas until the task force is
finished.

A city like Arcata can't wait for the lengthy decision-making process on
something like this, city leaders realized last year.

Like it or not, they know Humboldt County, along with neighboring Trinity
and Mendocino counties, form the Emerald Triangle, named for the illicit,
commercial marijuana growing in remote, lush regions.

That reputation, along with a tradition of liberal sensibilities, primed
Arcata for an immigration wave of Proposition 215 refugees, Brown said.

He wanted to be ready.

"We either had to try to partner with them to control it, or fight it," he
said of medical marijuana users in town who have organized into a resource
center.

"It started kind of tenuous at first. They didn't trust us and we didn't
trust them," Brown said.

Few places in the state are better incubators for innovative ideas, unusual
collaborations.

Anchored by Humboldt State University, the town overlooking Humboldt Bay
scatters along hillsides dotted with sky-scratching redwood trees. Grandly
preserved Victorians rise next to distinctive bungalows.

The town center, fanning from a park square, looks like a slice of Berkeley
lifted and placed among uncluttered, scenic views. Shoppers can browse at
Moonrise Herbs or pick up a $55 flowered shower curtain at Plaza Design,
flip through menus and find tofu this or that, or pick a movie at two
old-style downtown theaters running full tilt.

Festivals for every kind of celebration imaginable seem drawn to Chief
Brown's town, which is also the environmental battleground for controversial
timber practices.

He's arrested hordes of protesters, marshalled plenty of unruly
revelers-vs.-citizens conflicts, including a parade of topless women.

So the man who briefly distinguished himself by hauling in the largest
albacore tuna from Humboldt Bay is unruffled by shifting gears on marijuana.

"I don't agree with a lot of things, but I have to enforce it," he said of
Proposition 215.

After a trial run, Brown began issuing the cards last year. Residents bring
in forms with medical recommendations from a doctor. After Brown confirms
everything with the doctor, and he checks the physician's background, he
issues a card with an expiration date.

It's a hit.

"I was truly astonished," said Debra Parry, who discovered new freedom when
she moved to Arcata last year. She used pot for years to ease her ailments,
but ran into the law in Arkansas where she lived before.

She sat on a picnic blanket next to McDowell, her shoulders hunched over,
making her seem older than her 46 years. A cane laid next to her legs, their
outline lost in jeans that bagged around her limbs. For years arthritis has
robbed her of free movement, and a bone marrow disease makes too much iron
for her body. Her organs are rusting.

"I would vomit for hours," she said.

She took the pipe from McDowell and gingerly inhaled, closing her eyes.
Several times a day, a pinch or two relieves the nausea and piques her
appetite.

"It relaxes my stomach immediately," she said, munching on a lone broccoli
spear.

A member of the local marijuana center, a resource group that works with
Brown and helps people like Parry, she joined other members to picnic in a
clearing of the city's huge Redwood Park. The nearness of police officers
still gives her pause.

"It just makes me edgy," she said, eyeing two officers patrolling the park.

In spite of Brown's best efforts, her fear is not unfounded. She is breaking
federal law, card or no card.

And that remains a fact, said Brian Steel, spokesman for the U.S. Department
of Justice.

Recent interest in national health studies about medical marijuana and more
states joining California's lead could eventually sway Congress differently,
he conceded, and federal authorities have yet to arrest anyone like Parry or
McDowell.

But they could.

Proposition 215 is no get-out-of-jail-free card in Arcata, either, Brown
said.

Except for the 100 or so card-holders in town, who abide by the rules
otherwise, Brown is still in the busting business: "Marijuana is still
against the law in Arcata."

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Pot Grower Has Home Confiscated (The Montana Standard, in Butte, says Duane
D. Gray, a U.S. Marine veteran, tried painkillers, lithium and Prozac,
watched what he ate and soaked in mineral-filled springs, but nothing worked
like marijuana to relieve the nausea, fatigue and muscle pains he suffered
from Gulf War Syndrome. On Thursday, Butte District Court Judge James Purcell
gave him a three-year suspended sentence, fined him $1,000 and confiscated
his home for growing 77 marijuana plants.)

Date: Sun, 25 Apr 1999 08:48:16 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: US MT: Pot Grower Has Home Confiscated
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Montana NORML http://www.montananorml.org/
Pubdate: Fri, 23 Apr 1999
Source: The Montana Standard (MT)
Copyright: The Montana Standard, 1999
Contact: editor@mtstandard.com
Address: 25 W. Granite St., Butte, MT 59701
Fax: (406) 496-5551
Website: http://www.mtstandard.com/
Author: Kim Skornogoski, of The Montana Standard

POT GROWER HAS HOME CONFISCATED

Duane D. Gray tried painkillers, lithium and Prozac, he watched what
he ate and he soaked in mineral-filled springs.

But he said nothing worked to relieve the nausea, fatigue and muscle
pains he'd had since serving in the Gulf War I until he tried marijuana.

To punish Gray, 28, for growing 77 marijuana plants in his attic,
Butte District Court Judge James Purcell gave Gray a three-year
suspended sentence Thursday, fining him $1,000 and confiscating Gray's
home at 1741 Grand Ave.

"Regardless of what (the marijuana) does for you, to ask this court to
legalize drugs because of your situation ... I cannot condone that,"
Purcell said.

Sheriff John McPherson said he hoped the sentencing would deter drug
crimes.

"This is the first time property was seized in a drug bust done solely
by Butte law enforcement," he said Thursday evening. "This should send
a message out that we're damn serious about cracking down on drug offenders."

Chief Deputy County Attorney Brad Newman said the state considered
Gray's lack of criminal background and that he earned his bachelor's
degree in metallurgy from Montana Tech in December when it offered the
three-year suspended sentence.

Gray pleaded guilty to manufacturing drugs and using his home for the
production of drugs I both felonies I last month.

On Thursday, Gray told the court he knew he broke the law, but asked
for lenience.

"I'm asking for a chance, not condemnation," he said. "I feel it saved
my life."

Gray enlisted in the Marines after graduating from Butte High School
in 1988, serving for five years, including in the Gulf War.

He testified Thursday at his sentencing hearing that the symptoms hit
him slowly after he returned from Iraq. He said he had difficulties
adjusting to the cold weather, he vomited frequently and lost weight
because he couldn't eat, he felt faint and his bones and muscles
creaked and ached.

Over a two-year period, he went to the Veterans' Administration
Hospital in Helena nearly 20 times, receiving various medications for
an "undiagnosed illness."

The defense produced a letter Gray wrote in 1995 to then Congressman
Pat Williams, urging him to talk to the veterans' hospital about what
was becoming known as Gulf War Syndrome.

Gray told the court that he didn't smoke marijuana until 1996, "when
the VA hospital pretty much said you're on your own.

"I wanted relief bad," he said. "With the marijuana I was able to eat,
hold down my food and it reduced my stress."

An Anaconda doctor, Paul Blocker, testified that Gray's symptoms
matched those of other Gulf War veterans who experienced Gulf War syndrome.

Blocker also said that while he doesn't support marijuana use, it
isn't unusual for people who have Gulf War Syndrome to smoke marijuana
for relief.

Gray said he tried buying marijuana on the street, but wasn't
comfortable not knowing what else might be in the stash so he began
growing his own.

For about two years, Gray smoked two joints a day. He said he
harvested about two ounces monthly.

But Detective Jerry Stradinger, who works with the Southwest Montana
Drug Task Force, said the number of plants found indicated Gray wasn't
just consuming for personal use.

Had all 77 plants grown to maturation, 30 to 35 pounds of marijuana
could have been produced and sold in Butte for somewhere between
$21,000 and $52,500.

"If he would have used them all for personal use, he would have to
smoke them 24 hours a day for the next 200 years," McPherson said
after the hearing.

Butte police were granted a warrant in the fall of 1997 after a
confidential informant told them Gray and another man had been
building a marijuana greenhouse in the attic. Police also looked at
Gray's power bill which increased in wattage in September and October
of 1997.

Newman asked Gray if fighting in the war or graduating from Tech
excused him from obeying Montana's drug laws.

"You made a conscious choice to take marijuana, didn't you?" Newman
asked. "There are alternative means other than illegal means."

Gray's lawyer, Jack Morris, asked Judge Purcell to give Gray a
three-year deferred sentence so the two felonies could eventually be
erased from his record. Morris also asked to have the state sell the
house, worth $27,000 according to court documents, and split the money
between Butte and the defendant.

"There's no evidence he sold (the marijuana.) No money was found. The
marijuana wasn't packaged in Baggies," he said. "We're asking for a
second chance. He was at the end of his rope. He admits he was wrong
and made a mistake."

Morris said Gray plans to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, which
will delay his home being sold.

McPherson said the money made from selling Gray's house will go
towards drug use prevention and confiscation, including equipment,
dogs or to purchase drugs to catch sellers.

If Gray didn't appeal, his house would go on the market in 10
days.

Purcell chastised Gray after sentencing him, saying that drugs are
decaying the country.

"You're very fortunate... to get a suspended sentence," he said. "With
this size of operation I this is the largest growth operation we've
had in this court I I can't conceive that this was just for personal
use.

"The court really doesn't have any sympathy for you in this
matter."

Morris said Gray hasn't smoked marijuana since he was arrested in the
fall of 1997, and instead is being counseled for post-war shock.

***

From: Joe Wein (joewein@pobox.com)
From: "CRRH mailing list" (restore@crrh.org)
To: "restore@crrh.org" (restore@crrh.org)
Subject: RE: Pot Grower Has Home Confiscated
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 13:36:30 +0900

Ironic, isn't it, that the same country is fighting a war on the balkans
against another country for driving defenseless families out of their homes?

Regards
Joe Wein

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Decriminalize Therapeutic Marijuana Now, MP Says (According to the Vancouver
Sun, in British Columbia, Bernard Bigras of the Bloc Quebecois said Thursday
during a visit to Vancouver that Ottawa should not wait until the completion
of clinical trials before it decriminalizes marijuana for therapeutic
reasons. Bigras's medical-marijuana bill is to be debated in June and he is
on a national tour to raise the issue. Bigras said many MPs are still
resistant to the idea of any reform, but the Quebec member of Parliament
expects strong support from other Bloc members, the NDP, many Tories, some
Liberals and Reformers, and national groups representing people with AIDS,
hemophiliacs and senior citizens.)

Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 18:59:17 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: CANADA: Decriminalize Therapeutic Marijuana Now, MP Says
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: Chris Clay (chris@thecompassionclub.org)
Pubdate: April 23, 1999
Source: Vancouver Sun (Canada)
Copyright: The Vancouver Sun 1999
Contact: sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/
Author: Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun
Note: The Compassion Club website is http://www.thecompassionclub.org/

DECRIMINALIZE THERAPEUTIC MARIJUANA NOW, MP SAYS

Ottawa should not wait until the completion of clinical trials before it
decriminalizes marijuana for therapeutic reasons, says a Bloc Quebecois MP.

"Many people need to take marijuana to cope with their illness and it is
important to adjust the law to this new reality," Bernard Bigras said
Thursday during a visit to Vancouver.

Bigras introduced a private member's bill in Parliament last year calling
on Ottawa to decriminalize marijuana for medical reasons.

The bill is expected to be debated in June and Bigras is on a national tour
to raise the issue.

Health Minister Allan Rock recently announced that clinical tests will be
held to see whether marijuana provides therapeutic benefits to people
suffering from a painful disease or terminal illness.

Bigras was to meet today with Vancouver's Compassion Club, which in recent
years has been discreetly supplying marijuana for free or at reduced rates
to sick people in the Lower Mainland.

The club's activity is illegal but it receives referrals from agencies
serving people with cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.

"The Compassion Club is a model for Canada," said Bigras. "Club members can
take the marijuana in a secure environment and receive a very good quality
of marijuana."

Bigras said that many people are resorting to buying marijuana from the
street and finding it laced with other substances that only exacerbate
their pain.

The MP said it is unfair that sick, even dying people, can still face stiff
fines or jail time for using marijuana.

Compassion Club founder Hilary Black said her members strongly support
Bigras' bill. She said the clinical trials proposed by Rock will be of
little benefit to many of her club's 700 members.

"The truth is that the people who are in most need now are not going to be
around to take advantage of the trials," Black said.

"The people who are furthest along with cancer and HIV infection need to be
freed of the fear and shame of breaking the law."

The Liberal government does not plan to change the Criminal Code for the
trials, but will use a section of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
that allows the minister to exempt people from prosecution for special
circumstances.

Black said there is a long list of ill people in B.C. waiting for an
exemption so they can buy low-cost marijuana.

She said the drug helps relax spasms for multiple sclerosis sufferers and
people with epileptic seizures. It also helps to relax muscles, counter
nausea, improve sleep patterns and stimulate appetite.

Bigras said many MPs are still resistant to the notion of legalizing
marijuana for any purpose. Nevertheless, the Quebec MP expects strong
support from other Bloc members, the NDP, many Tories and some Liberals and
Reformers.

B.C. Reform MP Jim Hart has been an outspoken defender of legalizing the
drug for medicinal purposes.

Bigras said his bill has also received support from national groups
representing people with AIDS, hemophiliacs and senior citizens.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Cops Stir Up The Great Pot Debate (The Ottawa Sun says Canadian Parliamentary
Bureau Justice Minister Anne McLellan is receptive to a pitch by the
country's top cops to decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot and
hash. "We're going to take a look at this and we'll see where it leads us,"
McLellan said yesterday.)

Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 07:41:09 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Canada: Cops Stir Up The Great Pot Debate
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: creator@mapinc.org
Pubdate: Thu, 22 Apr 1999
Source: Ottawa Sun (Canada)
Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact: editor@sunpub.com
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/OttawaSun/
Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html
Author: Mark Dunn

COPS STIR UP THE GREAT POT DEBATE

Feds Urged To Decriminalize Possession

Parliamentary Bureau Justice Minister Anne McLellan is receptive to a pitch
by the country's top cops to decriminalize possession of small amounts of
pot and hash.

"We're going to take a look at this and we'll see where it leads us,"
McLellan said yesterday.

"I think this is a significant move on the part of the chiefs and they are a
very influential voice."

The Canadian Association of Police Chiefs say they could maximize their
dwindling resources by targeting organized crime instead of busting potheads.

The association's board has adopted a policy that calls on the federal
government to give police the option of charging someone with 30 grams or
less or issuing a ticket and fine or community service.

Under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, possessing less than 30 grams
of marijuana or a derivative is a summary conviction punishable by a maximum
six months of jail or a $2,000 fine. A conviction under the act does not
carry a criminal record.

Brockville Police Chief Barry King says that while the association opposes
legalizing illicit drugs, it supports decriminalizing possession of small
amounts of marijuana and hashish when a conviction does not give rise to a
criminal record.

King said if police caught someone on a schoolyard with 20 grams of pot,
there would be no ticket issued.

The chiefs would support decriminalization only if the government also
introduced prevention and education programs, counselling and treatment for
users and addicts, and diversion programs such as drug courts or community
sentencing.

"All we want to do is add another tool to the toolbox. We're not giving up
the ghost on drugs, absolutely not," said King, who heads the association's
drug abuse committee.

The government is studying the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. The
chiefs say they will abide by whatever Health Canada decides with regard to
allowing the use of any illicit drug for that purpose.

The chiefs are motivated by statistics indicating year after year that about
half of marijuana charges processed every year stem from simple possession,
said King.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Senior Police Officer Calls For Rethink On Cannabis (The Herald, in Britain,
says Mr Tom Wood, deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, told
a major drugs conference in Edinburgh yesterday that Scotland's Parliament
should re-examine society's attitudes toward cannabis. "Speaking personally,
I do not and will not support the legalisation of cannabis. I merely think it
is time to take a fresh look at drugs," he said. Mr Wood's comments on the
cannabis issue came just days after Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Jim
Wallace announced he remained "open-minded" on the legalisation of cannabis
when he outlined his party's drugs strategy.)

Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 18:47:09 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Scotland: Senior Police Officer Calls For Rethink On Cannabis
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: shug@shuggie.demon.co.uk
Pubdate: Fri, 23 Apr 1999
Source: Herald, The (UK)
Contact: herald@cims.co.uk
Website: http://www.theherald.co.uk/

SENIOR POLICE OFFICER CALLS FOR RETHINK ON CANNABIS ANDY DROUGHT A

Senior police officer yesterday called for the Scottish Parliament to
re-examine society's attitudes toward cannabis.

Mr Tom Wood, deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police, told a
major drugs conference in Edinburgh he hoped Scotland's future politicians
would seize the opportunity to tackle an issue which political parties had
previously dodged.

He said they had failed to show either the "stomach or the courage" to take
up the challenge.

"Individuals who have brought up the subject have been severely lambasted by
the party leader," Mr Wood claimed.

Later, he told The Herald: "As a practitioner who has been in the business
of law enforcement for 30 years, it is my personal view it is time we took a
completely new look at the whole business of drugs. Now is perhaps the
golden opportunity."

Earlier, Mr Wood had responded to a speech by Councillor Pat Chalmers,
convener of the Joint Grampian Police Board, at the conference on drugs and
crime organised by Sacro - Safeguarding Communities, Reducing Offending.

Some of those present maintained Mr Wood was supporting the legalisation of
cannabis. However, he emphasised this was not the case: "I am a police
officer, and it is my job to enforce the law. Speaking personally, I do not
and will not support the legalisation of cannabis. I merely think it is time
to take a fresh look at drugs."

Mr Wood's comments on the cannabis issue came just days after Scottish
Liberal Democrat leader Jim Wallace announced he remained "open-minded" on
the legalisation of cannabis when he outlined his party's drugs strategy.

At yesterday's conference, Mr Chalmers, who also stressed he was speaking
purely in a personal capacity, strongly attacked the "blunderbuss" nature of
the Government's anti-drugs message and said the appointment of a drugs czar
had changed nothing.

He also claimed the Government's policies had lost the confidence of the
younger generation.

Councillor Chalmers said the legalisation and taxation of cannabis, a drug
which he believed killed far fewer people than alcohol, was something that
should be examined afresh in light of the "generational tolerance" present
in society.

"We are losing this war," he said. "Despite having 3000 drug addicts in the
Grampian Police area, there is no state-funded drug detox or rehab centre."

The councillor accused the Government of "playing snakes and ladders" with
the drugs issue and added: "Its so-called policies are in reality no more
than a conjuror's trick with smoke and mirrors."

Responding to Mr Wood's fears that the Scottish Parliament would lack the
"guts" to tackle the issue, he said: "I hope we'll see a younger group of
MSPs who will take this on.

"I am sure there are people within our present Cabinet who have actually
used cannabis."

Councillor Chalmers heads the Joint Police Board of a force which at one
time was led by controversial chief constable Dr Ian Oliver.

Dr Oliver, who was later forced out of his post, had been tipped as a
possible first UK drugs czar, a position which later went to Mr Keith Halliwell.

Lothian and Borders Police last night distanced themselves from Mr Wood's
views. A spokesman said the deputy chief constable was speaking in a
personal capacity.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Swiss Recommend Legalizing Cannabis (According to the Associated Press, a
government-appointed panel in Bern recommended Friday that Switzerland
legalize the sale and use of marijuana - but with controls to keep the nation
from becoming a drug haven. The committee's recommendation to the Cabinet
will be considered as part of an ongoing study to revise Switzerland's drug
laws, but would probably have to receive approval in a national referendum.)

Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 16:12:46 -0700
From: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org (MAPNews)
To: mapnews@mapinc.org
Subject: MN: Switzerland: Wire: Swiss Recommend Legalizing Cannabis
Sender: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Reply-To: owner-mapnews@mapinc.org
Organization: Media Awareness Project http://www.mapinc.org/lists/
Newshawk: EWCHIEF@aol.com
Pubdate: Fri, 23 Apr 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press

SWISS RECOMMEND LEGALIZING CANNABIS

BERN, Switzerland (AP) Switzerland should legalize the sale and use of
marijuana but with controls to keep the nation from becoming a drug haven, a
government-appointed panel urged Friday.

The committee's recommendation to the Cabinet will be considered as part of
an ongoing study to revise Switzerland's drug laws but would probably have
to receive approval in a national referendum.

The existing ban on marijuana hasn't worked and may even encourage its use
among young people, the panel said.

"Cannabis is a drug and the committee isn't intending to trivialize it or
say that its consumption is without risk ... but consumption is rising,
especially among young people," panel member Anne-Catherine Menetrey told
Swiss radio.

The committee said the popularity of the drug and varying attitudes of
different states to consumption and low-level dealing mean the Swiss policy
on drugs is suffering from a "growing loss of credibility."

Under the recommendation, prospective marijuana sellers would have to pass a
training course and be licensed. Purchasers would have to prove that they
lived in Switzerland to prevent tourists from flocking to Switzerland to buy
drugs, the panel said.

Last November, some 74 percent of Swiss voters rejected a constitutional
amendment to legalize the consumption, cultivation and acquisition of hard
and soft drugs, including heroin, for personal use.

Government ministers said the legalization plan was a health risk and would
turn Switzerland into a haven for drug addicts from abroad.

No other European nation, not even the relatively liberal Netherlands, has
legalized the possession or sale of any drugs or has plans to do so.

In 1997, the Swiss overwhelmingly voted in favor of state distribution of
heroin to addicts. Government studies showed this cut crime associated with
the drug scene.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

[End]