MARIJUANA: EXPERTS MULL OVER BASICS OF CANNABIS LAW REFORM

If cannabis was legal, who would sell it? How would it be taxed? What
restrictions would there be on advertising it? And how would its use be
regulated?

These questions are to be addressed in the first international conference
on how cannabis should be regulated if it were legalised or decriminalised.

Scientists, doctors and lawyers from Europe, Australia and North America
are gathering in London for the Cannabis Congress today.

The congress is being hosted by Release, the drugs advice agency and
charity, and the Lindesmith Centre, a New York-based drug policy research
institute funded by the financier Mr George Soros.

"Most prominent scientists, medical professionals and policy experts agree
that alternatives to cannabis prohibition need to be developed to both
prevent further harm and protect individual civil liberties," said Mr Mike
Goodman, director of Release.

"Since opinion polls from around the world show growing support for
decriminalisation, the purpose of this conference is to determine the best
ways to regulate the distribution of cannabis."

Lindesmith Centre director Mr Ethan Nadelman said: "As support for cannabis
reform grows, more policymakers throughout the world are being faced with
the challenge of regulating both the use and the distribution of cannabis."

"This conference will address the challenge of cannabis control and seek
practical alternatives as cannabis prohibition continues."

The organisers say the conference marks a dramatic shift in the debate,
from discussions of whether cannabis should be legalised to how it could be
regulated after decriminalisation.

Supporters of changes in the law argue that if cannabis was legal, it would
cut crime and be a money-earner for governments, as well as allowing health
risks to be monitored.

Among speakers at the conference at Regent's College, in London, will be
academics from the universities of Krakow, Amsterdam, Toronto and
California, including experts in jurisprudence.

The Guardian

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski