cannabisnews.com: Swiss Move Closer To Decriminalisation of Cannabis





Swiss Move Closer To Decriminalisation of Cannabis
Posted by CN Staff on February 19, 2003 at 09:04:08 PT
By Ariane Gigon Bormann in Zurich 
Source: Swissinfo
The decriminalisation of cannabis has long been a controversial issue in Switzerland. A parliamentary commission met on Wednesday to discuss the possible liberalisation of the drug in Switzerland. The Senate has already come out in favour of such a move. However, anti-decriminalisation sentiment is growing, with the staunchest opposition centred in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.
Opponents of liberalisation have stepped up pressure on parliamentarians and other groups.One of the country's leading drug prevention agencies says it has even been offered cash by campaigners to oppose the government's plans.Since the end of last year, the country’s German-language media has published a number of articles - often citing the “British Medical Journal” – warning of the potential psychological dangers of cannabis use.Christine Goll, vice-president of the parliamentary commission for social security and health, believes the articles form part of an orchestrated campaign by former members of the “Youth without Drugs” campaign.Goll says that campaigners have now regrouped under the “Parents without Drugs” association. Opposition mounting  The commission says it has received a number of letters opposing liberalisation, which appear to form part of a co-ordinated campaign.“These campaigners are hoping to influence parliamentarians and prevent a referendum on the decriminalisation of cannabis,” Goll told swissinfo.If parliament does agree to change the law, opponents would need to collect 50,000 signatures to force a nationwide referendum on the issue.The Senate showed its clear support for decriminalisation in December 2001, coming out in favour of the move by 32 votes to eight.The House of Representatives could vote on the issue during the special parliamentary session in May. Unlike alcohol, cannabis has a direct and epidemic influence on daily school life. -- Swiss-German teachers union  Teachers back campaign Opponents received a boost at the end of January when the Swiss-German teachers union (LCH) issued a statement criticising the decriminalisation of cannabis.“Unlike alcohol, cannabis has a direct and epidemic influence on daily school life,” stated the union.It added that it did not want school to become “a therapy centre, where people come to sober up or to catch up on their sleep”.The Swiss-French teachers union (SER) is backing the anti-decriminalisation campaign.Marie Claire Tabin, the union’s president, echoed the concerns voiced in the LCH’s statement.“The risks of psychological dependence are very real,” she told swissinfo. “Do we want a society full of dopey people, who take less and less responsibility for their actions?“We can’t let cannabis consumption become as commonplace as eating bread or, unfortunately, cigarettes.”  Repressing drug use prevents us from being able to contact cannabis users and to help them to stop taking the drug. -- Michel Graf, Institute for Drug and Alcohol Prevention Drug prevention  Drug prevention agencies are, however, surprised by the teachers’ stance.Michel Graf, joint director of the Swiss Institute for the Drug and Alcohol Prevention (ISPA), is among those who believe that liberalisation is the best way of combating addiction.“Repression prevents us from being able to contact cannabis users and helping them to stop taking the drug,” Graf explained. “Decriminalisation allows us to treat the user as opposed to simply turning them over to the police.” Referendum Graf says that campaigners are currently rallying support in preparation for an eventual referendum.He told swissinfo that he had received a number of offers from certain pressure groups willing to pay the IPSA for its backing.Yves Guisan, a parliamentarian and doctor, is particularly critical of the teachers’ campaign, complaining of their “insupportably lax attitude towards other substances, in particular tobacco".Guisan, who is a member of the parliamentary commission, does not believe opponents to liberalisation will be able to influence the views of parliament.“It’s a last-ditch attempt by a few die-hards; the battle is already lost,” he said. “Most importantly, the commission has not changed its stance on decriminalisation.” Sidebar: In Brief A parliamentary commission met on Wednesday for a three-day discussion on the decriminalisation of cannabis.The Senate has already come out in favour of legal cannabis consumption, and parliament is expected to also come out in favour.Under the new legislation, possession and production of cannabis for personal use would be allowed, as well as limited trade in the drug. But it would remain illegal to import or export cannabis and advertising would be banned.But an anti-decriminalisation campaign, particularly strong among the German-speaking Swiss, is rallying for support against the plans.A parliamentary vote is likely to take place during the special session in May.Cannabis use is currently illegal in Switzerland, but the authorities have adopted a “tolerant” attitude towards it. Source: Swissinfo.orgAuthor: Ariane Gigon Bormann in Zurich Published:  February 19, 2003Copyright: swissinfo SRIContact: info swissinfo.chWebsite: http://www.swissinfo.org/ Swiss Stand Firm Over Cannabis Law http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13573.shtmlCannabis Film To Tour Swiss Schoolshttp://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1625338
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Comment #12 posted by mayan on February 19, 2003 at 17:50:57 PT
SENSELESSNESS
From the Rolling Stone article that WolfgangWylde posted:"The pragmatic Swiss clearly recognize the senselessness of banning a naturally occurring plant that has never killed anyone."It is refreshing to know that common sense still prevails in some countries!MARCH 5 - National Moratorium to Stop the War on Iraq:
http://www.notinourname.net/call_for_the_moratorium.html
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Comment #11 posted by Virgil on February 19, 2003 at 12:48:40 PT
Beware the Ides of March, make that March 4
From http://www.edprc.org/ - From the 8th to the 18th of April 2003, government representatives from all over the world will meet in Vienna to review progress at the half way point of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs 10 year strategy, formulated in New York in 1998. Under the title ‘A drug free world we can do it’, this strategy promised to eliminate or significantly reduce the supply and demand for illegal drugs, before the year 2008 According to the UN Global Illicit Drug Trends report on 2002, this objective has not been accomplished. On the contrary, cannabis, cocaine and synthetic drug production, as well as the overall number of illicit drug consumers continues to increase. Heroin production has decreased due to the ban on opium production declared by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. However, surveys show that from February 2002 onwards, opium cultivation has resumed in Afghanistan and it is expected that heroin production will soon be comparable to mid-1990 levels. In the past 5 years, an international network of organisations has been formed, representing citizens and independent experts who together want to confront policy-makers with the ineffectiveness of drug prohibition, and the evidence that better alternatives do exist.This network is called the International Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies, ICN. In the coming months, European members of the ICN will try to convince policy-makers in their countries to use the opportunity of the April 2003 meeting to review the legal basis of drug prohibition, formed by the UN Conventions on Drugs of 1961, 1971 and 1988.This campaigns aims at achieving parliamentary resolutions or other forms of political pressure on European governments/European Commission to raise the need of reform at the UN CND meeting in April 2003.One of the highlights of this campaign will be a major Conference organised by the ICN in the European Parliament in Brussels, on 4 March 2003. This Conference will present the evidence for reform to parliamentarians, officials and other authorities. The arguments will be made that drug prohibition is causing more harm than the consumption of prohibited drugs themselves, and that UN Conventions need to be reviewed in order to allow countries to implement policies that manage the realities of drugs rather than simply eliminating them.Responsible for this campaign will be a team of European drug policy activists and professionals, formed during the meetings of ICN. Funding is being provided by the Network of European Foundations and organised by the participant NGO’s. All contributions to this project are welcome, financial and otherwise. For more information, click here.News on the progress of this campaign in the various countries can be found on this website. 
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Comment #10 posted by WolfgangWylde on February 19, 2003 at 11:42:13 PT
Heck, I just had to look it up. Like I said...
...the genie's out of the bottle. Excuse this if its been posted before.
From Rolling Stone:On The Ground In The New Stoned Switzerland At Growland, a two-story marijuana emporium in the up-scale shopping arcades of Bern, Switzerland, the product is remarkably inexpensive. Growland is one of fifteen stores here in the nation's capital that openly sell marijuana, and one of 250 nationwide. While it is technically not legal to deal pot in Switzerland, it is also not illegal. Store manager Peter Zysset has been in business for nine years and has only been visited by the cops once. Whatever the Deadhead on your gift list wants, Growland sells, including ten sticky strains of marijuana -- all grown in Switzerland, according to Zysett. "The product is 100 percent Swiss, mostly grown outdoors," he says. "Already some former vineyards here have turned to growing pot." The pragmatic Swiss clearly recognize the senselessness of banning a naturally occurring plant that has never killed anyone. In 1999, the Swiss Federal Commission for Drug Issues put out a report proposing a formal policy of cannabis decriminalization. And Department of Health Director Thomas Zeltner has said that "the consumption of cannabis can't be avoided through prohibition" and admitted that "cannabis does relatively little damage to health." In 2001, the States Council ( Switzerland's version of the U.S. Senate ) unanimously passed a revision of the Narcotics Law, calling for cannabis possession to be decriminalized. The lower house of Switzerland's congress still must ratify the revision; in the meantime, many of the country's twenty-six states ( called cantons ) have effectively decriminalized weed for anyone over eighteen. Buyers are legally required to supply Swiss ID, but vendors only sporadically ask for it, and sometimes accept long-range train passes as proof of residency. Switzerland's leniency has turned legendary ski towns like Verbier -- located about 100 miles south of Bern -- into magnets for the international burnout set. Verbier reports that in the last two years, the number of young North Americans streaming to its slopes has picked up by about five percent. Perhaps Steve Klassen, a Mammoth Lake, California, snowboarder who traveled to Verbier in April for a competition, says it best: "Verbier is the best venue in the world for extreme snowboarding. I go right from kind-bud Cali to Sativa Switzerland -- do not go to jail, do not pay $200." 
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Comment #9 posted by WolfgangWylde on February 19, 2003 at 11:40:01 PT
As I understand...
...it, the genie's already out of the bottle in Switzerland. You can buy (and have been able to for a few years now) cannabis "fragrance pillows" over the counter in just about any Swiss town. They are also growing it by the acre. The opposition can posture all it wants, but its been de facto legalized for quite some time.
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Comment #8 posted by MikeEEEEE on February 19, 2003 at 11:39:33 PT
The europeans are light years ahead
Belgium set to legalise cannabis
14 February 2003BRUSSELS Belgium is set to permit the use of cannabis, following the passing of the country's new drugs law Thursday.Cannabis users will be allowed to have the drug for personal use, providing they possess no more than 5 grams. They are allowed to cultivate one cannabis plant.However, smoking of cannabis in public and in the presence of minors remains illegal.Users who cause problems for neighbours will face prosecution.Parliament approved the new drugs law by 75 to 40 votes, with four abstentions.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on February 19, 2003 at 09:59:57 PT
Video and Audio from Swissinfo.org
June 23, 2002 http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1202008
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Comment #6 posted by Sam Adams on February 19, 2003 at 09:52:46 PT
Excellent!
I'm glad to see the prohibitionists putting up a fight in Switzerland. Now we can savor the satisfiction even more as the Puritanical do-gooders suffer a crushing defeat! Hopefully they will come back and interview these folks after they LOSE so we can enjoy every minute........
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on February 19, 2003 at 09:44:27 PT
Here are a few more links
Swiss Stand Firm Over Cannabis Law: 
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13573.shtmlHard Drugs Use on the Rise:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1242876Swiss Drugs Policy Bearing Fruit:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=991813Swiss Stand Firm Over Cannabis Law:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1044850Parliament Moves Towards Legalising Cannabis:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=949008Liberalisation Plans Leave Cannabis in Legal Limbo:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1248933Government Gives Green Light to Legalisation of Cannabis:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=607387Public Endorses Government Plans to Decriminalise Cannabis:
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=581238 
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Comment #4 posted by puff_tuff on February 19, 2003 at 09:40:43 PT
Liberalisation plans leave cannabis in legal limbo
Wednesday 19.02.2003Liberalisation plans leave cannabis in legal limbohttp://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1248933
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Comment #3 posted by 420toker on February 19, 2003 at 09:32:02 PT
BLAH more usless utterances from the clueless
We can’t let cannabis consumption become as commonplace as eating bread or, unfortunately, cigarettes.Why not?Better for you than Cigs
less fattening than bread although bread is sometimes involved in cannabis smoking.Could always cut out the middle man and just eat cannabread
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Comment #2 posted by 420toker on February 19, 2003 at 09:28:18 PT
WTF!?!?!?!
Unlike alcohol, cannabis has a direct and epidemic influence on daily school life. -- Swiss-German teachers unionAlcohol helped flunk me out of college, cannabis made me realize I could have done alot better in school.
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Comment #1 posted by Ethan Russo MD on February 19, 2003 at 09:26:36 PT:
The Swiss Situation
I attended the CannaTrade in Bern (capital, German-speaking, very conservative) last winter, and one can catch a wiff of cannabis on the air every few hundred meters, and plants are frequently evident in apartment windows. Liberalization will happen because the Swiss are sufficiently pragmatic to realize that it is the only reasonable policy. 
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