SWISS REJECT LEGALIZATION OF DRUGS

GENEVA (AP) -- Heeding government warnings against turning their pristine
Alpine nation into a drug haven, Swiss voters rejected proposals Sunday to
legalize consumption of heroin and other narcotics.

With a majority of results declared by mid-afternoon, not a single state
accepted the proposal. For it to pass, it needed a majority of the 26
cantons and an absolute majority of votes.

Polls published for Swiss television forecast a 75 percent vote against the
proposed constitutional amendment that ``the consumption, cultivation or
possession of drugs, and their acquisition for personal use, is not
punishable.''

The rejection was in contrast to the overwhelming approval given last year
to state distribution of heroin to hardened addicts.

The government opposed the misleadingly-worded proposal ``for a sensible
drug policy.'' Ministers said it was a health risk and would turn
Switzerland into a haven for drug tourists and traffickers and anger
neighboring European countries.

The government said its current policy of helping hardcore addicts while
clamping down on dealers was the best way ahead.

Church groups, police chiefs, social workers, doctors and other
professionals working with addicts also said the proposal should be rejected.

No other European nation, not even the Netherlands, has legalized the
possession or sale of any drugs or has plans to do so.

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

Backers hoped that sufficient votes in their favor would convince the
government to relax laws on soft drugs like cannabis.

Switzerland has an estimated 30,000 hard drug addicts in its population of
7 million -- one of Europe's highest rates.

A government survey published last week showed a rise in cannabis
consumption. It revealed that 27 percent of people aged 15-39 said they had
smoked cannabis at least once. This compared with 16 percent in 1992.

Voters looked set to give the go-ahead to government plans to spend $22.1
billion over 20 years modernizing the national rail network and linking it
to high-speed lines in neighboring countries.

The plan centers on building two huge new tunnels through the Alps to
provide a route for north-south European cargo traffic between Germany and
Italy and to provide speedy passenger train service.

The public already previously approved the tunnels, but the government
wanted ot tp gove the go-ahead to its finance package.

Checked-by: Richard Lake