Italy oks 40 joints
Author: Jonty Skrufff
Friday, November 17, 2006
Italy’s new government have confirmed they’ll be relaxing previously draconian anti-cannabis laws, allowing smokers to possess up to one gram of cannabis’ active ingredient without fear of prosecution, equivalent to 40 joints, the Health Ministry announced this week.
"I intervened so thousands of young people will not have to go to jail or suffer a criminal proceeding for smoking a joint," said Health Minister Livia Turco.
"This will not liberalise drugs but prevent and deal with those who use drugs. You can only fight drugs effectively by taking on the dealers and the traffickers and making an example of them,” she added. (EuroNews)
The new centrist government replaced Italy’s previous leader, far right plutocrat Silvio Berlusconi who introduced ultra-harsh anti-pot penalties for users including loss of passports and driving licences plus heavy jail sentences for those caught with more than 0.5 grams, just before he was voted out of office.
Meanwhile in America, hundreds of thousands of Nevada citizens voted to legalise personal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana, only narrowly failing to win after federal authorities conducted a heavyweight propaganda campaign against the initiative.
"Today, a record number of Nevada voters called for an end to marijuana prohibition, the highest vote ever to end prohibition," said Marijuana Policy Project leader Rob Kampia, who campaigned for the bill.
"The momentum is with us. Major social change never comes easily, but change in our failed marijuana laws is coming because prohibition does nothing but harm. Prohibition funds criminals and guarantees that teens have easy access to marijuana, and voters have begun to see through the drug czar's lies,” he added. (Drug Policy Alliance).
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