SWISS TO VOTE ON DRUG LEGALIZATION

GENEVA (AP) Marijuana, cocaine and heroin would all be legal in Switzerland
if a referendum to decriminalize drugs passes this Sunday.

The government opposes the plan, fearing it would turn the orderly Alpine
nation into a haven for drug tourists and traffickers. Also against it are
church groups, police chiefs, social workers, doctors and other
professionals who work with addicts.

But the left-wing coalition that gathered the necessary 100,000 signatures
for the referendum claims its passage would kill the street market in drugs.

The proposal would insert a clause into the constitution that "the
consumption, cultivation or possession of drugs, and their acquisition for
personal use, is not punishable."

Stefan Wunderlin, a member of the referendum's organizing committee,
concedes that objections to legalizing hard drugs will likely mean the
proposal is rejected.

No other European nation is contemplating such a sweeping move. Even in the
liberal Netherlands, all drugs are technically illegal. However, soft drugs
such as marijuana are decriminalized and Dutch authorities don't prosecute
people who sell or use small amounts.

Switzerland has an estimated 30,000 hard drug addicts, one of Europe's
highest rates. In contrast to many other countries, the death toll is
falling from a peak of 399 in 1994 to 241 last year.

An experiment with government-authorized distribution of heroin to
long-term addicts began in 1994 and led to a huge cut in crime, misery and
death associated with the hard-core scene.

In a referendum last year, the traditionally cautious Swiss overwhelmingly
voted for the experiment to be put on a permanent legal footing, the
world's first, and Parliament approved it last month.

Even though the government policy has won praise at home and abroad, it
still hasn't stamped out trafficking.

Around Geneva's railway station, dealers lurk in the evening shadows in
wait for potential clients. Similar scenes occur in other cities.

Police say that as soon as one dealer is arrested in the nightly
cat-and-mouse game, another moves in to take his place.

Seizures of hard drugs have not slackened in the run-up to Sunday's vote.
Last month, police carried out their biggest-ever raid on illegal cannabis
producers seizing more than 5.8 tons of the plant with a street value
between $14.5 million and $21.7 million.

Cannabis legalization activists claimed the sweep was politically motivated.