Subj: UK: Taxing talk on cannabis



Date: 31 Aug, 1998



Source: The Guardian







Taxing talk on cannabis 

First global conference to address problems of legalised drug 



By Duncan Campbell, Crime Correspondent

Monday August 31, 1998 



If cannabis was legal, who would sell it? How would it be 

taxed? What restrictions would there be on advertising it? 

And how would its use be regulated? 



These questions are to be addressed in the first 

international conference on how cannabis should be regulated 

if it were legalised or decriminalised.



Scientists, doctors and lawyers from Europe, Australia and 

North America are gathering in London for the Cannabis 

Congress next Saturday, which is being hosted by Release, 

the drugs advice agency and charity and the Lindesmith 

Centre, a New York-based drug policy research institute 

funded by the financier George Soros.



"Most prominent scientists, medical professionals and policy 

experts agree that alternatives to cannabis prohibition need 

to be developed to both prevent further harm and protect 

individual civil liberties," said Mike Goodman, director of 

Release.



"Since opinion polls from around the world show growing 

support for decriminalisation, the purpose of this 

conference is to determine the best ways to regulate the 

distribution of cannabis."



Lindesmith Centre director, Ethan Nadelmann, said: "As 

support for cannabis reform grows, more policy makers 

throughout the world are being faced with the challenge of 

regulating both the use and the distribution of cannabis. 

This conference will address the challenge of cannabis 

control and seek practical alternatives as cannabis 

prohibition continues."



The organisers say the conference marks a dramatic shift in 

the debate, from discussions of whether cannabis should be 

legalised to how it could be regulated after 

decriminalisation. Supporters of changes in the law argue 

that not only would legal cannabis cut crime and be a money-

earner for governments, but it would also allow health risks 

to be monitored.



Among speakers at the conference at Regent's College will be 

academics from the universities of Krakow, Amsterdam, 

Toronto and California, including experts in jurisprudence.



 

© Copyright Guardian Media Group plc.1998