From: [hender s n] at [zeta.org.au] (Zed)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Kennett may allow a free vote on relaxing pot laws
Date: Sat, 30 Mar 1996 14:51:36 GMT

From the Daily Telegraph(Sydney, Australia) Friday March 29, 1996
Reprinted without permission:

 Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett yesterday foreshadowed a free vote in
Parliament if an advisory committee recommends the decriminalisation
of marijuana.
 Decriminalisation "may be one of those issues on which there should
be a free vote," he said.
 He also defended his interview with a magazine in which he disclosed
that three of his children had smoked marijuana.
 "I think this is a very real discussion - I think most parents like
me worry very much about our children and what they do," Mr Kennett
said.
 In an interview with Beat, a youth music magazine, Mr Kennett said
three of his children had tried marijuana but all four of his
offspring had urged him not to decriminalize it.
 Mr Kennett told the magazine he found out about his children's drug
experiences after he sought their views on a newspaper report that the
Premier's Drug Advisory Council was preparing to recommend the
decriminalisation of marijuana. The Government is due to receive the
report of the Drug Advisory Council next week.
 Yesterday, he said a free vote, not along party lines, would be
appropriate if the council recommended the decriminalisation of
marijuana.
 "We'll see what the report suggests... I would hope that it would go
for a public debate for a couple of months and then the Government and
the community will make the decision," he said.
 "It may be the subject of a debate in the Parliament, obviously, and
it may be one of those issues in which there should be a sort of free
vote because I think it is almost a moral issue."
 Mr Kennett, who goes to the polls tomorrow, said his personal
position was against decriminalisation.
 He said he would not allow his children to smoke marijuana in the
house, but would not say whether he would forbid them from smoking the
drug entirely.
 He also criticised ABC Melbourne broadcaster Peter Couchman, saying
Couchman had suggested the Kennett children should be charged for drug
taking.
   Zed         PGP key on request
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