Ä [14] TALK.POLITICS.DRUGS (1:375/48) ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ TALK.POLITICS.DRUGS Ä
 Msg  : #4851 [200] + 4892                                                      
 From : Holger Skok                         1:2613/335      Thu 05 May 94 11:23 
 To   : (crosspost 2) All                                                       
 Subj : Germany Legalises Marijuana: Back to the original topic                 
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From: skok@itwds1.rus.uni-stuttgart.de (Holger Skok)
Organization: ITW, Universitaet Stuttgart, FRG

Hi,
even though the discussion has moved away from the original subject let
me give a short update on what has been decided upon be the Verfassungs-
gericht:

The ruling stated that the possession and consumption of small amounts
of hash or mj must not be prosecuted as long as no third persons have
been endangered (eg. minors). Importation of said amounts must remain
free from prosecution as well. Wanting to get high from THC cannot
generally be considered a crime and prosecuting perpetrators would be in
violation of the "Uebermassverbot" - i.e. violate the protection from
exaggerated punishment. Punishing consumption is therefore
unconstitutional.
One of the judges issued a votum separatum claiming that any prohibition
of cannabis was unconstitutional.

Important point: The court argued that worldwide experience had shown
that the consumption of cannabis was in fact considerably LESS dangerous
than had originally been assumed. It noted that scientists agreed for
the most part that sporadic consumption did not induce addiction and
cause only mild physical harm.

Source: Der Spiegel, No. 18, May 2, 1994.

Some other tidbits from the article:
The US department of transportation had ordered a study in 1993,
performed by the Rijksuniversiteit Limburg in the Netherlands concerning
the effect THC has on the ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. The
claim that THC has adverse effects even weeks after the consumption was
proven to be wrong.

The Dutch policy of not prosecuting consumers of drugs and providing
methadone treatment and clean syringes and most importantly providing
social services for addicts has led to a decrease in the number of
people addicted to hard drugs from 25000 to 20000 "in the last years".
The number of heroin- deaths has decreased as well.

Not prosecuting possession also takes a large load off the judicial
system: In 1993 48267 court proceedings have been started in Germany
involving consumption, trading or smuggling of cannabis; 11352 kg of
cannbis have been seized. In 1991 more than 60% of all court cases
involving controlled substances were in fact dealing only with
possession of soft drugs for personal consumption, 30% were dealing with
addicted small time pushers. Only 10% of all cases were dealing with
professional dealers.

Some food for thought...
HSK
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*          skok@itwds1.energietechnik.uni-stuttgart.de                *
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