> It has been said that they will file to withdraw from the Single > Convention Treaty (which we forced on the world thru the UN). > They are supposed, I think, to give a two year notice. the withdrawal period is 6-12 months: http://www.taima.org/incb/e/conv/1961/index.htm "Article 46 DENUNCIATION 1. After the expiry of two years from the date of the coming into force of this Convention (article 41, paragraph 1) any Party may, on its own behalf or on behalf of a territory for which it has international responsibility, and which has withdrawn its consent given in accordance with article 42, denounce this Convention by an instrument in writing deposited with the Secretary-General. 2. The denunciation, if received by the Secretary-General on or before the first day of July in any year, shall take effect on the first day of January in the succeeding year, and, if received after the first day of July, shall take effect as if it had been received on or before the first day of July in the succeeding year." That means that if Switzerland were to witdraw no later than December 31, 2000 the Convention would cease to apply on July 1, 2001. If it were to withdraw between January 1 and June 30, 2001 the withdrawal would take effect on January 1, 2002, etc. Given that there probably will be a referendum on it, it may well take longer than that though. > Now that would be a HUGE blow to our drug warriors, who have > always stated that this treaty was why we could not move to legalize > marijuana. That claim was always bogus, since the convention leaves it up to signatories whether to prohibit use, possession, sale, cultivation etc. of the scheduled substances. May I quote Article 3 of the 1961 convention: "5. The drugs in Schedule IV [including cannabis] shall also be included in Schedule I and subject to all measures of control applicable to drugs in the latter Schedule, and in addition thereto: (a) A Party shall adopt any special measures of control which in its opinion are necessary having regard to the particularly dangerous properties of a drug so included; and (b) A Party shall, *if in its opinion the prevailing conditions in its country render it the most appropriate means of protecting the public health and welfare*, prohibit the production, manufacture, export and import of, trade in, possession or use of any such drug except for amounts which may be necessary for medical and scientific research only, including clinical trials therewith to be conducted under or subject to the direct supervision and control of the Party." [* = emphasis by me, JW] For example, cannabis was legal in India for years after the country signed the Single Convention. In the United States there is no law against cannabis use (as in "production, manufacture, export and import of, trade in, possession or use" in the above paragraph) though possession, trade, etc. are illegal. This clearly illustrates the amount of discretion left to signatory states. The reason Switzerland is thinking about withdrawing from the convention is that it requires signatories that choose not to prohibit cannabis cultivation to subject it to the same system of controls as opium cultivation, which is an extremely bureaucratic and expensive system of controls. > Other countries would follow the Swiss, and that would end the > US forced drug war in much of the world. This will certainly send signals to Switzerland's neighbours. It will make it less likely that the Netherlands would flip back towards prohibition. It will also set the cat amongst the pigeons for the legalisation debate in Germany, which shares the same language and culture with 75% of Switzerland. It will be very hard for German prohibitionists to argue that something that works in Bern and Basel will not work in Berlin and Hamburg. Already Germany has decided to copy the heroin prescription trials and has legalised heroin "shooting galleries" where users can inject in a safe environment, which has drastically reduced incidents of overdoses. I can't tell you how excited I am about the developments in Switzerland. Imagine the effects on the US drug war if Canada were to decide to completely abandon cannabis prohibition and you come close to what this means for several European countries. What we need now are German and French language versions of Mapinc.org :-) Best regards Joe Wein http://www.taima.org "Cannabis in Japan"
