Greens target the voters on cannabis

According to the Green Party, 20 per cent of young people in the Balearics regularly smoke cannabis, while a further 49 per cent have admitted to having tried the substance. The legalisation of cannabis is one of the policies in the Green Party's manifesto for next month's general election and yesterday the co-ordinator of the Green party in the Balearics, Jordi Lopez, expanded on the subject. Lopez said that while the private consumption of cannabis in Spain is legal, since the introduction of the Citizens Protection Law in 1992, “some 500'000 people have been fined between 50'000 and 200'000 pesetas for smoking a joint in a public street”. Lopez said that such “repression is not fair because all the scientific studies recognise that the substance is less harmful than alcohol; what is more it has numerous medical uses.” According to Lopez, the Green Party wants to end the “hypocritical situation” by getting the use of cannabis for medical purposes authorised and the legalisation of recognised places where small and controlled amounts of cannabis can be bought, similar to the situation in Holland where small amounts of the substance can be bought in “coffee-shops.”