DUTCH REJECT LOOSER RULES ON MARIJUANA

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The Dutch justice minister yesterday fended
off a proposal to further liberalize the Netherlands' marijuana policy
- -- for the time being.

The minister, Piet Hein Donner, opposed allowing large-scale farming
of marijuana in a pilot project near the southern city of Maastricht.

Donner told the legislature in The Hague that allowing regulated
farming would amount to outright legalization, which he said was
unacceptable under Dutch law and international treaties.

He signalled he was ready to resign rather than carry out the
proposal.

Under the 30-year-old Dutch tolerance policy, marijuana is technically
illegal, but users are not prosecuted for possessing small amounts,
and it is openly sold in coffee shops.

The liberalization is meant to resolve the anomaly in which police
allow shops to operate but crack down on growers -- meaning that
supplies must be smuggled in or grown illegally. Regulation also would
mean users get more information about the composition or safety of
what they are smoking, supporters say.