ITALIAN RADICAL PARTY POLITICIAN CONVICTED FOR GIVING OUT FREE HASHISH

ROME (AP) The founder of Italy's Radical Party was convicted for the second
time Tuesday of handing out free hashish.

Marco Pannella was ordered to pay a $3,700 fine and given a suspended
sentence of two months and 20 days.

The case dated to December 1995, when he handed out about 3 grams of hashish
to crowds in Rome's central Piazza Navona. Pannella has long crusaded for
the legalization of hashish and marijuana, contending it would cripple the
Mafia's lucrative drug-dealing business.

Three years ago, Pannella was handed a four-month suspended sentence for
distributing free hashish and marijuana at a Roman flea market in 1995.

Tuesday's conviction comes as Italy's center-left government bickers over a
proposal to legalize hashish and marijuana presented by the largest party in
the coalition, the Democratic Left. Conservative leaders have denounced the
proposal.

Pannella's past campaigns, which include hunger strikes and the distribution
of money, have helped push through referendums legalizing divorce and
abortion.