Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
From: [catalyst remailer] at [netcom.com]
Subject: Re: Germany Legalises Marijuana
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 1994 15:44:09 -0700

         BONN (Reuter) - Opposition politicians and police were split
Friday on a Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized
hashish and marijuana use in Germany.
         The top anti-narcotics official in Chancellor Helmut Kohl's
center-right government criticized the court's implicit view
that the drugs were safer than ``harder'' substances like
cocaine and heroin.
         ``Making a distinction between soft and hard drugs is the
wrong way to go,'' the Interior Ministry state secretary, Eduard
Lintner, told the newspaper Bild.
         Supreme court judges Thursday upheld the ban on hashish and
marijuana in principle but said possession of small amounts for
personal use should no longer be punished. Consumers of any
illegal drugs had faced up to five years in jail.
         Bild, Germany's biggest-selling daily, ran a banner headline
``We say NO'' above a dozen statements from politicians, sports
stars and average citizens criticizing the court ruling.
         The national police detectives' association blasted the
decision, saying it would encourage addiction and open the door
for fully legalizing drugs.
         Opposition Social Democrats (SPD) praised the court for
granting the highest legal backing to a practice of not charging
hashish and marijuana users that has spread among overworked
police and prosecutors in many of Germany's 16 federal states.
         Hesse state legislature deputy Kurt Weidmann, whose region
includes the drugs-plagued city of Frankfurt, called the ruling
``a brave step toward de-criminalizing'' hashish that could help
move drug users from jails to therapy programs.
         The supreme court, in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe,
made its ruling on appeals from several local criminal courts,
who had asked if it was fair to punish hashish smokers even
though alcohol and cigarettes were also unhealthy.
         The ruling left it to state lawmakers to decide what
quantity would make up a permissable ``small amount.''
Definitions under some states' existing tolerance policies range
as high as 30 grams (one ounce).
         Government estimates put the number of hashish and marijuana
users at up to eight million in a country of 80 million people.