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Scottish
Citizens'
Commission,
Including
Catholic
Priest,
Calls
for
Legalization,
Reform
10/23/98
P>Father Bob Gardner, a Roman
Catholic Priest and a member of Scotland's Citizens' Commission on Drugs,
raised eyebrows this week calling for the legalization of drugs such as
cannabis and ecstasy, or MDMA. The Commission's findings were similarly
reformist, recommending the legalization of cannabis, the medical study
of MDMA, and the establishment of a national heroin prescription trial.
In comments aired on a Channel
4 (UK) documentary this week, Father Gardner says that the British government
has cast a generation of young people as "modern-day lepers" for their
use of ecstasy.
The Commission, comprised
of eight people, including a lawyer, a teacher, a priest and a magistrate,
was set up in response to the government's refusal to empanel a Royal Commission
on Drugs. In researching their report, the group visited eight European
cities, spoke to 30 organizations, 50 drug users and five politicians from
Britain and other European nations. In the documentary, Ken Temple,
the panel's chairman, complained that although the UK Home Secretary Jack
Straw, who has publicly pronounced that he would speak with "anyone, anywhere
at any time" about the issue of drugs, nevertheless refused to speak with
the group. Neither could the group persuade any other government
minister to meet with them about the government's position and policies.
-- END --
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Issue #64, 10/23/98
Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Club Shuts Down, City Declares Medical Emergency | Colombian President Calls for End to Eradication | Grand Jury Fails to Indict in Death of Man Shot in Home | Magazine Publishers of America Urges "Editorial Support" for PDFA Ad Campaign | Washington DC Appropriations Bill Forbids District from Funding its own Syringe Exchange Program | Scottish Citizens' Commission, Including Catholic Priest, Calls for Legalization, Reform | Editorial: Death, But No Justice in Houston
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