VOTERS IN SWITZERLAND REJECT MEASURE TO LEGALIZE DRUGS

GENEVA -- Swiss voters on Sunday decisively defeated a measure to legalize
marijuana as well as heroin and cocaine, apparently heeding government
warnings that the proposed law would turn the nation into a drug haven.

With all ballots counted, 74 percent voted against and 26 percent for a
constitutional amendment that would make legal "the consumption, cultivation
or possession of drugs, and their acquisition for personal use."

Last year, the Swiss were the first in the world to vote overwhelmingly in
favor of state distribution of heroin to hard-core addicts.

"The outcome shows that the Swiss population rejects extreme solutions to
the drug problem," said Felix Gutwiller, a pioneer of the heroin
distribution program.

The government opposed the plan, saying it was a health risk and would turn
Switzerland into a haven for drug tourists and traffickers. It said the
current policy of helping hard-core addicts while clamping down on dealers
was best.

Church groups, police chiefs, social workers, doctors and other
professionals working with addicts held similar views.

No other European nation has legalized the possession or sale of drugs or
has plans to do so. In the Netherlands, such soft drugs as marijuana are
decriminalized, and Dutch authorities don't prosecute people who sell or use
small amounts.

The prolegalization lobby -- a loose left-wing coalition that gathered the
necessary 100,000 signatures to force a referendum -- claimed it would stamp
out trafficking and the black market.

Francois Reusser, from the prolegalization lobby, blamed the scale of the
defeat on the fact that the proposed law included both hard and soft drugs.

Given Switzerland's pioneering role on drug issues, the vote was watched
closely in other countries.

"When 26 percent of voters support controlled legalization of drugs, it does
suggest some crumbling in what is claimed to be global consensus on the war
on drugs," said Ethan Nadelmann, director of the New York-based Lindesmith
Center Drug Policy Unit, which favors more relaxed laws.

Checked-by: Don Beck