Israel Decriminalises Ecstasy

Israel's Justice Ministry announced this week that people caught in possession of up to five ecstasy pills will no longer face prosecution, and explained that the change is "a case of adapting legislation to meet reality' (Ha'aretz, Jerusalem).

However, the Ministry stressed that possession of even one pill will still be technically a crime and explained the new category of "personal use' is designed to distinguished between users and suppliers.

The change coincided with the publication of a report in the UK by leading civil liberties organisation Transform which predicted that all drugs will be legalised in the UK by 2020.

"Drugs will be legalised in the not too distant future because prohibition is an ongoing catastrophe of startling proportions," Transform director Danny Kushlick said as he unveiled the report, titled "After the War on Drugs, Options for Control', at a presentation at Britain's Houses Of Parliament.

"We need to consider more effective, just and humane options," he continued. "In the UK, the prison population and property crime would be halved, drug related prostitution would end, opportunities for organised crime would reduce substantially, prohibition related corruption would disappear and drug turf wars would end," he said.

The "drug policy road map report' was immediately dismissed by British Home Office officials though was endorsed by a number of MPs and influential Brits including former Times editor Simon Jenkins.
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