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New German
Government Coalition Will Include Greens Who Want to Legalize Marijuana
GERMANY WEIGHING POT LEGALIZATION
Copyright © 1998 Nando Media Copyright © 1998 Reuters News Service
http://www.nandotimes.com
BONN (November 8, 1998) –
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.
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