Jospin Would Decriminalize Hashish

Reuters

PARISThe French opposition Socialist leader, Lionel Jospin,
saying he had twice smoked hashish, told a television interviewer
Sunday that he wanted to decriminalize the use of the drug if his party
won the parliamentary election scheduled for May 25 and June 1.

"I did it once in the United States, with a young woman, and I
think once in France," Mr. Jospin said in the interview with Canal Plus
television about a 1995 admission that he had smoked hashish.

He said his party would decriminalize the drug if it emerged
victorious from the voting. "Legalizing sounds like justifying," he said.
"Penalizing is absurd. I think we have to find a line somewhere between
the two."

France forbids the recreational use of drugs and has frequently
clashed with the Netherlands, where the possession of small amounts of
soft drugs is tolerated.