RECONSIDER Tidbits

-French Justice Minister Calls for Pot Decriminalization Debate-

Paris, France:  French Justice Minister Marylise Lebranchu called on
politicians to begin debating the merits of marijuana decriminalization
after a newly released study reported that approximately half of all
teens have tried the drug.

"I think that starting the debate would not be a bad thing because it has
never been started properly," Lebranchu told Inter radio, adding that the
issue "will have to be taken to a conclusion one day."  The Justice
Minister made her comments following the release of an annual report by
the national Drugs and Drug Addiction Observatory that found almost 60
percent of boys and 43 percent of girls aged 18 have already tried pot.
Among adults, the study reported that 16 percent of the population had
experimented with the drug.

A previous report released in November by the European Monitoring Center
for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) estimated that just over 20 percent
of French adults and some 40 percent of teens had tried the drug, despite
the fact that the country maintains some of the strictest anti-drug laws
in Europe.  Under French law, drug use is punishable by up to one year in
jail and drug possession - including marijuana - is punishable by up to
ten years in jail (though first-time pot offenders may be let off with
only a warning).

Currently, only a handful of European Union nations criminally prosecute
marijuana offenders.  Last year, Belgium, Luxembourg and Portugal all
enacted policies decriminalizing pot, while Great Britain's government
announced that it would federally reclassify marijuana so that its
possession was no longer an arrestable offense.

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