Efforts are underway in the Scottish parliament to bring the
marijuana trade "out of the housing estates and into regulated
premises," the Daily Telegraph (London) reported.
Tommy
Sheridan, the Scottish Socialist Party leader, urged parliament members to
support a plan in the British parliament to legalize marijuana on an
experimental basis for four years. Sheridan also called for
Dutch-style coffeehouses, or retail marijuana establishments, to be
introduced in Scotland.
Margo MacDonald, the Scottish National
Party parliament minister, meanwhile, is calling for a Scottish commission
to study marijuana policy. MacDonald will meet soon with Angus MacKay,
the deputy Scottish Justice Minister, to discuss her proposals.
MacKay, however, has already thrown up a caution flag, noting that under
United Kingdom law, legislation from the British parliament in Westminister
would be required to introduce coffeehouses into Scotland.
But MacDonald's call for a new look at Scots marijuana policy is picking
up support from other parties as well. Donald Gorrie, a Liberal
Democrat, said, "The current system is failing and I think there should be
more grown-up debate about it."
Scotland is already awaiting a
report from the Scottish Advisory on Drug Misuse, which has been
investigating Scottish drug cultures. Its investigations, however,
have focused on harder drugs, particularly heroin.
The Board of
Social Responsibility of the Church of Scotland called for decriminalization
of marijuana in July 1997. In January 1998, a former chief of the famed
Scotland Yard police force called for legalization of drugs (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/027.html#scotlandyard).
Scotland Yard was itself implicated in a massive prohibition-related scandal
in February 1998 (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/028.html#scotlandyard).
Later that year, a Scottish citizens commission, including a Catholic
priest among its membership, called for the legalization of such drugs as
marijuana and ecstasy (http://www.drcnet.org/wol/064.html#Scotland).
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