From: Steve Wingate 
Subject: SNET: Cannabis should be legal, Belgian cabinet decides
Date: 23 Jan 2001 02:04:32 -0500
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Date sent:      	Mon, 22 Jan 2001 11:03:48 -0600
From:           	kl 
Subject:        	[CTRL] Cannabis should be legal, Belgian cabinet decides
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Europe/2001-01/legalise200101.shtml

Cannabis should be legal, Belgian cabinet decides
By Stephen Castle in Brussels
20 January 2001
Belgium's cabinet has approved plans to legalise the use of
cannabis, while resisting calls for a drugs regime as liberal as that
of its neighbour, the Netherlands.
After a hot debate, Belgium's coalition government agreed on a
compromise making it legal to grow or smoke cannabis, but not to
buy or sell it.
Smoking openly in the Grand Place of Brussels or other public
places will still leave Belgians open to possible prosecution under
laws to prevent "social nuisances," commonly used for those who
urinate flagrantly in public (doing so discreetly is not considered a
crime).
The curious Belgian compromise over the weed has some logic,
even for a country which says it wants to reduce drug use. Surveys
shows that as many as 40 per cent of the country's 10 million
population has experience of cannabis and, with the Dutch border,
an hour away for most of the population, some liberalisation seems
inevitable. At present, possession of any cannabis is technically
punishable by a prison sentence.
Paul Geerts, a spokesman for the Consumer Affairs and Health
Ministry, said that plans to allow Dutch-style cafes, where
cannabis is legally available, had been judged to "go too far". For
people who want to obtain it there were two alternatives, he said:
"You can grow it yourself or most people in Belgium know where
you can buy it in the Netherlands".
There will, he said, be no formal limit placed on the amount that
people can possess for their own use because to do so "implies
that there is not a problem; we want to help people avoid drugs".
The new regulations treat cannabis on a par with alcohol and
nicotine in terms of the health risks it poses.
Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said a royal decree would be
issued instructing prosecutors not to pursue people for possession.
"This is a policy that is being followed in many of the countries in
the European Union," he said. "We are not penalising individual
users of cannabis, but we are concentrating on production,
distribution or problematic use."
Some other EU members take a tougher line on drugs, however.
France, in particular, has attacked Dutch laws for promoting drug
trafficking.
The Health Minister, Magda Alvoet, said the new measure was a
recognition that the judiciary should no longer intervene in the
personal use of cannabis.

© 2001 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd.


"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only
power government has is the power to crack down on
criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one
makes them. One declares so many things to be a
crime that it becomes impossible for men to live
without breaking laws."
-- Ayn Rand

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