DUTCH POLITICIANS UNITE ON PLAN TO REGULATE MARIJUANA FARMING

A broad coalition of political parties announced a plan Friday to
regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, in what may be
the most significant development in Dutch drug policy in years.

Opponents in the government said the move would be tantamount to
legalization. But the proponents, representing a large majority in
parliament, have threatened a showdown if the government tries to
block the proposal.

Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende and his Christian Democrat party
oppose allowing cannabis cultivation because it would set the
Netherlands another step apart from the rest of Europe.

"When making drug policy, you can't just base it on national
considerations alone, you have to also think international
relations," Balkenende said.

But legislator Frans Weekers, whose conservative VVD party supports
the plan, said the current policy is "hypocritical and leading to
increasing problems."

He added there was no support for criminalizing marijuana among
either politicians or Dutch society.