NOTED DOCTOR ADMITS TO EUTHANASIA

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner was
quoted Wednesday as admitting that he had practiced euthanasia on
dying patients and urging the decriminalization of marijuana in France.

Kouchner, a founder of the Nobel Peace prize-winning aid group
Medecins Sans Frontieres, told the Dutch weekly Vrij Nederland that he
had ended the lives of patients during wars in Lebanon and Vietnam.

The minister said he took it on himself to end the lives of suffering
patients, and said the practice was secretly done often in France. But
he did not say he himself had practiced euthanasia in France, where it
is illegal.

Kouchner was named health minister - a post he held in the past -
after he ended in January an 18-month term as head of the U.N.
administration in Kosovo, the Yugoslav province controlled by the
United Nations and NATO. He has long been a proponent of humanitarian
aid, and the group he founded - known in English as Doctors Without
Borders - provides relief in conflicts around the world.

When Kouchner was asked if he had ever practiced euthanasia, the
minister looked surprised and replied: "Oh, yes, I have done that,
even without it being asked of me," the newsweekly reported.

He also admitted that he had used marijuana and said he would like to
regulate its use in France. He said cannabis is less dangerous than
alcohol or cigarettes.