TAXING TALK ON CANNABIS

First global conference to address problems of legalised drug

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 next Saturday, which 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 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 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, Ethan Nadelmann, said: "As support for cannabis
reform grows, more policy makers 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 not only would legal cannabis cut crime and be a money-earner for
governments, but it would also allow health risks to be monitored.

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

Copyright Guardian Media Group plc.1998

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst