MAPS: Switzerland: Swiss Court Downgrades Ecstasy Drug

["D. Paul Stanford" <stanford@xxxxxxxx>]

Newshawk: R Bauman
Pubdate: Tue, 15 Jun 1999
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 1999 Associated Press

SWISS COURT DOWNGRADES ECSTASY DRUG

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- Switzerland's supreme court ruled Tuesday that
dealing in the drug Ecstasy is not a serious crime.

The tribunal overturned a one-year prison sentence given by state court in
Bern to a man convicted of selling 1,000 tablets of the hallucinogen.

The court also rejected a plea from the state of Aargau for a stiffer
sentence against a man sentenced to nine months in jail for selling more
than 1,300 tablets of the drug.

While Ecstasy ``is in no way a harmless substance,'' there is no evidence it
poses a serious health risk, the Federal Tribunal said.

The drug is mostly used by ``socially integrated people'' and doesn't
generally lead to criminal behavior, said the court, which categorized
Ecstasy as a ``soft'' drug.

Under Swiss law, serious drugs offenses -- including heroin and cocaine
dealing -- carry jail sentences as long as 20 years.

__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---
MAP posted-by: Don Beck 

We are working to regulate and tax adult marijuana sales, allow doctors to 
prescribe cannabis and allow the unregulated production of industrial hemp! 

*Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp* 
CRRH ; P.O. Box 86741 ; Portland, OR 97286 
Phone:(503) 235-4606 Fax:(503) 235-0120 Web: http://www.crrh.org/


------------------
MAPS-Forum@xxxxxxxx, a member service of the Multidisciplinary Association
for Psychedelic Studies (to become a member, see www.maps.org/memsub.html).
To [un]subscribe, email the message text,
[un]subscribe maps-forum youraddress to majordomo@xxxxxxxx