No more jail for hashsmokers
Luxemburg loosens up oldfashioned drug laws Testtrial with "Fixerstuben"
(controlled heroin distribution and injection sites)

LUXEMBURG. The government of the Grand Duchy wants to relax its
hitherto strict punishment for drug consumers, according to the
Minister of Justice Marc Fischbach und the Minister of Health Johny
Lahure yesterday. The proposal states that in the future consumers of
soft drugs will only receive a fine of up to 5000 Marks instead of a
prison sentence. Whoever consumes hard drugs is, however, still
threatened with jail, but the maximum sentence of three years is to
be reduced to one year. It is also new that harmreduction measures
such as needle exchange and methadoneprograms will receive a legal
basis for the first time. Further planned as pilot projects are both
"Fixerstuben" and the controlled distribution of heroin to heavily
addicted persons. The present drug law is already 24 years old and
recently has been increasingly criticized.