Subj: Germany Weighing Pot Legalization



Pubdate: Sun, 08 Nov 1998



Source: Reuters



Copyright: 1998 Reuters Limited.



GERMANY WEIGHING POT LEGALIZATION



BONN (November 8, 1998 08:56 a.m. EST) -

Germany's new government said it will study the case made for

legalizing possession of small quantities of soft drugs such as cannabis.



"We're certainly going to look at it. There have been some interesting

essays on this and an EU report on it, too," Interior Minister Otto

Schily told Spiegel news magazine in an article made available on Sunday.



The ecologist Greens, junior partners in the new coalition, have long

been in favor of decriminalizing the use of soft drugs but Chancellor

Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats have so far resisted such a move.



Schily, a former Greens member who as a lawyer during the 1970s

achieved notoriety in Germany for defending Red Army Faction

guerrillas, said he would be seeking expert consultation on the issue.



Schroeder's government has announced plans for a more liberal drugs

policy, including state methadone programs and controlled heroin

prescription to serious addicts.