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Swiss Move Toward Legalization of Marijuana
Noting that existing drug laws are not effective, a study panel has advised the Swiss government to legalize marijuana.
Start Date: 4/25/99
On April 23, a government-appointed panel in Switzerland issued recommendations that the Swiss government should legalize the sale and use of marijuana, but with controls to keep the nation from becoming a drug haven.
According to the Associated Press, 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 panel noted that existing laws against marijuana have not been effective and may even encourage use of the drug among young people.
In 1997, the Swiss populace voted in favor of state distribution of heroin to addicts. Government studies showed this cut crime associated with the drug scene. But in a vote last November, a large majority of Swiss voters rejected a constitutional amendment to legalize the consumption, cultivation and acquisition of hard and soft drugs, including heroin, for personal use.
Under the new marijuana 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.
 Excelsior, Michael Lindemann's new novel (written under the pen name Michael Paul), depicts a wholly plausible near future in which human cloning is both widespread and widely abused; terrorists have access to target-specific biological weapons; recreational space travel is commonplace; and mounting pressures of global climate change, environmental decline, population growth and civil unrest inspire radical new approaches to urban security.
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