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European Parliament to delay cannabis vote
Reuters Wednesday 14 Jan 1998 vote on whether to recommend decriminalising cannabis in the EU could be postponed as anti-prohibition supporters seek more time to win round reticent British Labour deputies. The Socialist Euro-MP behind the plan, Hedy D'Ancona, a former Dutch Health Minister, said British Labour support was pivotal to success of Thursday's planned vote, which would make the EU assembly the first in Europe to take an anti-prohibition stance. ``If you are missing them, then you can not get a majority,'' she told reporters on Wednesday. Decriminalisation of drugs is a sensitive issue with Britain's ruling Labour Party, which takes a tough line on narcotics but has recently been embarrassed by allegations that the son of Home Secretary Jack Straw sold illegal cannabis to a newspaper reporter. British police said this week they would not bring charges against him or the reporter. British Labour deputies in the Parliament, who planned to abstain in Thursday's vote, have been subject to a massive lobbying effort from deputies who have heartfelt beliefs that by banning the drugs, governments are propping up the Mafia. Radical deputies Olivier Dupuis and Gianfranco Dell'Alba told a news conference on Wednesday only the Mafia benefit from tough laws. ``I would like to invite the British Labour deputies...to reflect on the seriousness of the consequences of the choice they are about to make,'' Dupuis said in a statement. In the run-up to the vote, the issue has proved a divisive one which has split political groups across national lines. The Parliament's Christian Democrat deputies were holding out on Wednesday against postponing the vote, seeing a majority against decriminalising soft drugs as a victory for their law and order agenda. British Conservative deputy Sir Jack Stewart-Clark disputed that a move to decriminalise cannabis would help stop the Mafia, saying they would just sell more dangerous hard drugs even harder.
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