cannabisnews.com: Italy Police Battle Reefer Madness at Swiss Border





Italy Police Battle Reefer Madness at Swiss Border
Posted by CN Staff on August 26, 2002 at 13:07:45 PT
By Christian Plumb
Source: Reuters
On a sunny Saturday on a highway surrounded by the lakes and mountains between Italy and Switzerland a young man sheepishly watches Italian tax police pore over his sleek silver motor scooter.His cross-border jaunt into Europe's newest drug paradise came to a sorry end when police discovered the first of five fragrant pouches of top-grade marijuana (about 25 grams worth).
"Any more than that, then he could be going to jail," said Loredano, a plain-clothes border tax policeman, examining the latest haul. "Our dogs would have been all over him with that amount."The border guard's German shepherds are busy elsewhere, rifling through the trunk of a nearby car, though that search proves fruitless.The police search up to 1,000 vehicles a day at this crossing into Italy from Switzerland's Ticino province, a mecca for Italian marijuana users since it legalised cannabis in 1997.Long a center for clandestine activities serving the appetites of Switzerland's southern neighbor, Ticino's liberalised laws lure thousands of Italians across the mountains driven by "reefer" (marijuana cigarette) madness."Fundamentally, Italians prefer the Swiss product because it's high-quality and cultivated with care," said Loredano, a 14-year Guarda di Finanza veteran who declines to give his last name, adding that marijuana grown in the area recently won a prize at an Amsterdam "tasting.""It seems the Swiss aren't only good at making watches."Italian appetite has brought about a boom in the area's "canapai," the equivalent of Amsterdam's coffee shops. They have increased their number to 15 from only two eighteen months ago in Chiasso, a short stroll from the Italian lakeside border town of Como. Police say there are 60 such stores in all of Ticino. 'PERFUMED POUCHES' Typical of this new cottage industry is Biosfera, a new-age looking store tucked away on a quiet residential street in the lakeside town of Lugano, Switzerland. It sells books, seeds, clothing and cosmetics, but most visitor are struck by the heady herbal aroma wafting from a large stock room in the back.The stores' best sellers are what they call "perfumed pouches." The name suggests they are scented sachets for lingerie drawers, but the contents are most commonly smoked.For the Italian tax police, who once concentrated on smugglers sneaking gold, furs, jewelry, watches and cigarettes across the border from Switzerland, where tax rates used to be much lower than in Italy, the boom in drug tourism has added a new and complicated wrinkle to life.Adding to the cat-and-mouse quality of the hunt are numerous holes in the chain-link fence that divides the 15 kilometer (9 miles) stretch of the border with Switzerland that Loredano and his colleagues patrol.A climb up one forest path marked with bright orange arrows painted on trees and rocks, shows the way to one of those gaps, where the border police say Italians pick up their stash after ordering it through the Web from a Swiss courier."For them, it's the industry of the future," said Antonello Reni, the commander of the Como tax police. "We only manage to get a trifle of all they produce."Last year that trifle amounted to 70 kg (154 lb) of marijuana, up from 25 kg in 1999 and 17 in 1998, he said.'ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT' The number of people caught with marijuana tripled last year to 2,173 from about 700 in 1998. Few do any jail time, though, as over-taxed magistrates in the area let many go free, and let others off with a caution, sometimes with a requirement they attend an anti-drug course.The lure of dealing has proved to be a powerful attraction for some northern Italians, given the potential demand for their wares in nearby wealthy cities like Milan, Turin and Bergamo.One 18-year-old upper middle class banker's son was caught at the highway border crossing with a list of customers and how much they had paid, neatly tabulated, Reni says."I understand that there's an entrepreneurial spirit here, but they've chosen the wrong business," he said.  Newshawk: Richard S.Source: ReutersAuthor: Christian PlumbPublished: Saturday, August 24, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Reuters UnlimitedRelated Articles:Swiss Stand Firm Over Cannabis Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13573.shtmlSwiss Clear the Way for Cannabis Legalisation http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread8940.shtmlHeidi High - Swiss in a Fix Over Legal Pot http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread7577.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on August 26, 2002 at 16:13:28 PT
News Brief from Thailand 
PM Suggests Legal Marijuana 
Published on Aug 27, 2002 
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=2&theme=A&usrsess=1&id=1458
Prime Minister Thaksin Shina-watra yesterday floated the idea of legalising less dangerous drugs like marijuana in order to lure addicts away from harmful drugs.
"A senior person once asked me why we don't legalise less dangerous drugs and make them more available to replace more dangerous ones. Reducing taxes on cigarettes and legalising marijuana are among the things that could be done," Thaksin said.
"We should think about the possibilities of these matters," he told an anti-drugs workshop held at Government House.
Deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), Chatchai Suthi-krom, said that the prime minister had yet to assign a particular agency to look into the idea of legalising marijuana.
He said the ONCB was looking at how krathom [a plant] could be used as a methamphetamine substitute as it was less harmful.
At yesterday's meeting, Thaksin also voiced support for a suggestion by Thai Rak Thai MP Sitha Thiwaree for the government to produce fake methamphetamine (ya ba) pills that would cause headaches and vomiting in order to stop people using the drug.
"I want the Public Health Ministry to talk to psychiatrists and chemists on whether the government should produce drugs that give people headaches and nausea," Thaksin told the workshop.
Sitha told the meeting that if drug users were sick after taking a fake pill it might deter them from taking any more drugs. 
He also said that the pills should be much cheaper than genuine ones in order to force ya ba dealers out of business.
Piyanart Srivalo
THE NATION 
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on August 26, 2002 at 15:23:04 PT
Naaps
That's just like here. Look at the difference in the laws in the states that are connected to Ohio.Ohio: 
 http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4557
West Virginia:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4572
Kentucky
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4539
Indiana:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4536
Michigan: 
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4544
Pennsylvania: 
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?wtm_view=&Group_ID=4560
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Comment #2 posted by Naaps on August 26, 2002 at 15:14:43 PT
Another Point
This story is stinted to reflect a problem. On one side of the border, cannabis is accepted, on the other side, the forces of the government work to crackdown. It should be a positive story, how the Swiss came to terms with cannabis, how their politicians determined that using criminal law to dictate the behavior of an individual user “is repugnant to the fundamental values of a legal system found on personal liberties, and is therefore illegitimate.”No, this story mangles the freedom of Switzerland into a problem for Italy. The poor Italian Tax Police with their German shepherds rifling through traveler’s cars and baggage. The overloaded victims of some ‘Reefer Madness’, and despite searching the vehicles, the 15 km border frustratingly has some gaps. Too bad, no sympathies for the people of the people control industry.  
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Comment #1 posted by Naaps on August 26, 2002 at 14:27:41 PT
Go Switzerland!
Switzerland’s Ticino province has legalized cannabis since 1997. I think visiting a "canapai," the equivalent of Amsterdam's coffee shops would be an interesting destination.Actually, one might expect to hear more about this place. Cannabis is being openly sold in 5-gram packages, ostensibly for aromatherapy, but preferably used for ‘fumar-therapy’. I’ve heard that one is allowed to cultivate your own supply in your garden.Seeing the success of cannabis tolerance undermines idiot police statements that cannabis erodes society, or that smoking a joint is directly linked to organized crime. The absence of problems with the policy keeps it relatively unknown, else all the prohibitionists would be harping about the problems of Switzerland. Actually, the prohibitionists just want to ignore Switzerland, hoping it will change or go away, rather than serve as a practical template for allowing cannabis use, cultivation, and sales elsewhere.  
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