SWISS PARLIAMENT BLOCKS MOVES TO DECRIMINALIZE CANNABIS

BERN, Switzerland -- Ignoring the appeals of its health minister, the Swiss
parliament Thursday blocked government moves to decriminalize cannabis and
put state prescription of heroin on a permanent legal footing.

After an emotional debate, the National Council voted 96-89 to take no
action on the government's proposed narcotics law revision. This means the
legislation will be kicked back to the Council of States, the upper house,
which approved it in December 2001.

Plans to decriminalize consumption and, under certain conditions,
production and sale of cannabis - which in Switzerland refers to marijuana
and other soft drugs - lay at the heart of the legislation.

The government argued that that police resources were too stretched to
enforce restrictive and outdated laws, with an estimated 500,000 people out
of a population of 7 million being occasional or regular soft drug users.

"Bans on cannabis and alcohol have always proved a failure," Health
Minister Pascal Couchepin said in an impassioned speech to parliament. He
said the proposed legislation aimed to step up preventive measures and cut
down on black market profits.

In practice, cannabis users rarely face police sanctions as Switzerland is
more relaxed about drugs than many other countries. However, there are big
local variations and - given the legal gray area - police often alternate
between tolerance and repression.

Many professional and youth groups had campaigned for decriminalization,
saying it was hypocritical to penalize cannabis consumption, but to allow
cigarettes and alcohol.

Lawmakers from the right-wing Swiss People's Party and from French-speaking
parts of Switzerland - which traditionally favors a more restrictive drug
policy - grouped together to block the proposed legislation, saying that
the state was abdicating its responsibility toward young people by
decriminalizing cannabis.

The revised narcotics law was intended to provide a permanent legal basis
to the state's provision of heroin to chronic addicts. The nine-year-old
heroin program, authorized to last until 2009, allows around 1,300 hardened
addicts to shoot up at approved centers with government-provided heroin.

The annual cost of 11 million to 14.5 million Swiss francs (US$8
million-US$10.5 million) is covered by health insurance on the grounds that
addiction is an illness rather than a crime.

Supporters say the heroin program has helped slash crime and death
associated with addiction.

The upper house will reconsider the legislation in one of its forthcoming
sessions. It can either amend it or send it back unchanged to the lower
house. Supporters of a more liberal drug policy hope that the package will
finally win parliamentary passage once the pressures of the general
election have eased.