Pubdate: Sat, 10 Mar 2001 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company Section: World Briefing: Europe Contact: 229 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036 Fax: (212) 556-3622 Website: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://forums.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: Elizabeth Olson SWITZERLAND: LEGALIZING MARIJUANA The government has proposed legislation that would permit consumption of marijuana and hashish, acting on findings of a study that showed use of the substances is pervasive. Under the proposed law, the police could ignore cultivation and trading of small amounts of soft drugs and devote more resources to large-scale production and export. The legislation faces scrutiny by Parliament, where passage is far from certain. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake