Cannabis Politics and Government Policies, a veiw from the public gallery

'A slice through the politics and policies with regard to cannabis from accross the Globe, a sideways swipe at grass stupidity and the hidden agendas with a political slant, cannabis politics with a
whiff of the of hypocrisy, cannabis politics of the Christian right, cannabis politics of the far left, read on......

UK: MS sufferer's fears for cannabis supply
thisisthenortheast.co.uk
Barry Nelson
June 30th 2005:

A MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferer who relies on illegal cannabis-laced chocolate to ease her pain fears her supply will

be cut off after a series of police raids. For the past six months, ex-nurse Pauline Taylor, 53, from Durham, has tempered her pain by eating chocolate bars containing the controlled drug cannabis. The chocolate bars are provided by a non-profit making network called THC4MS, dedicated to providing pain relief to MS sufferers.It is the only way she can obtain the powerful pain-relieving herb because of delays in licensing the UK's first cannabis-based drug.
But after a police crackdown, which THC4MS claims has resulted in five arrests, she fears she will be forced to buy cannabis from street drug dealers.The lack of legal cannabis supplies for pain relief is described as disgraceful by leading MS specialist Professor Mike Barnes,

of Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. He estimates several hundred North-East MS sufferers are using cannabis to cope with pain.And he believes there is no good reason why a cannabis-based spray, now licensed in Canada, should not be available in the UK.Prof Barnes, who treats advanced MS cases across the region, said: "It had two positive studies in this country showing it was safe and it worked.
"Another study is likely to show the same results."The UK's drug licensing body has told the spray's manufacturer, GW Pharmaceuticals, that further trials were needed before a licence could be considered. Ms Taylor, who has suffered MS for 20 years, said: "Without cannabis, my quality of life is greatly reduced."Just what do they want me to do? They

have refused to give cannabis-based medicines a licence and now the police are cracking down on the one source
we can rely on. "I was so relieved when I no longer needed to buy cannabis on the black market. Smoking cannabis is not good for you and there is also a risk of impurities."I've only got two bits of chocolate left, if I can't get any more I will have to go back to buying it on the street."
Prof Barnes, a trustee of the MS Trust, predicts there will be a long delay before the cannabis spray is licensed. He said: "That means maybe another 18 months of people having the inconvenience of buying something illegally, which I think is disgraceful." The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency said: "Trials are under way. It is not possible to predict when there will be evidence that the drug is safe."

A UN

report said the global drug use is on the rise with cannabis leading the way, but synthetic drugs such as amphetamines and ecstasy are declining. About 200 million people around the world, or 5 percent of the global population between the ages of 15 and 64, have used drugs at least once in the past 12 months, the 2005 World Drug Report said quoting figures from 2003 and 2004. The number of drug users had increased by 15 million from last year's report. In Afghanistan, where a majority of the world's opiates are produced, the amount of land dedicated to growing opium poppy increased to record-highs. However, bad weather ruined much of the crops so that the global increase in opium production stayed at 2 percent, the report said.

"There has been a rapid rise in small-scale cultivation,''
News.independent.co.uk
Terry Kirby
June 28th 2005:

In countless spare rooms, attics and garages, hundreds of thousands of leafy plants are being lovingly tended, their roots fed by nutrient-rich water, their leaves bathed by hot lamps 24 hours a day. And if the neighbours have a room with

the windows blacked out from which emanates a rich, earthy smell, they are probably growing something far more potent than tomatoes.
They are likely to be part of an unprecedented boom in domestic cultivation of cannabis, which is now believed to account for more than half of all the drug consumed in Britain.
It is an expansion fuelled by a combination of factors, including the relaxation in the classification of cannabis to a class-C drug, the continuing demand from older, middle-class cannabis consumers who prefer not to become involved with dealers and the easy availability, via the internet, of the seeds and equipment that makes growing easy. But there are also many new commercial growing operations, based in small factory units or warehouses, some of which are now being tracked down by police with the help of power companies, concerned at the illegal use of electricity. Full Small-Scale Cultivation......

Police have

recovered a staggering 576 kilograms of dagga worth more than R500 000 this weekend. Officers from the South African Police Services in Montclair swooped on two premises at the weekend and made their biggest ever drug bust. Police have recovered a staggering 576 kilograms of dagga worth more than R500 000 this weekend. Officers from the South African Police Services in Montclair swooped on two premises at the weekend and made their biggest ever drug bust. In the space of just four hours an estimated R580 000 worth of compressed (sealed together) dagga was recovered in Durban. The raid was a joint effort by officers from the Montclair Task Team and the Montclair Crime Prevention Unit. Full Bust............

The War on Drugs Meets the War on Terrorism
Freepress.org
Valerie Howland
June 26th 2005:

It’s time we

all get together on the same page and talk to our representatives about a problem we have in this country. This problem is rooted in ignorance and it is made worse by irresponsible policymakers. I’m talking about the fight to make marijuana legal, if for nothing else but for the plenty of us who absolutely need it to stay alive or at least bearably comfortable in our last days.
The Supreme Court recently as much as said that if the citizens of this country pressured our Congress

enough to see the sense in legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes, the fight that has lasted for far too long would be over. The American Medical Association supports the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, but it doesn’t seem to help the image of pot for good overall when the government itself actively distorts the facts for our children in commercials and magazine ads. With the whole world watching the Super Bowl that followed September 11, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy tried its best to help the President and the American people fight the war on terrorism. Thing is, the White House and the American people aren’t exactly fighting the same fight, More Terror.................

Several Florida and federal law enforcement agencies split just over $11 million Friday in proceeds confiscated

from an imprisoned drug dealer - the second multimillion-dollar distribution of his assets since last year. "This is the latest gift that keeps on giving," U.S. Attorney Gregory Miller said. "Crime pays, sometimes, for law enforcement agencies that are involved in complex, long-term investigations." The largest share of Claude Duboc's assets, $5.8 million, went to the IRS, while the Gainesville Police Department received nearly $3.6 million. Last year, $15 million taken from Duboc was distributed. The money distributed came from the sale of roughly $17 million in stock. The drug smuggler also forfeited property worth more than $100 million. Duboc, who was convicted of conspiracy to import hashish and marijuana, is serving a life sentence in federal prison. Defense attorney F. Lee Bailey, who represented Duboc, was jailed and eventually disbarred in Florida for transferring about $6 million worth of Duboc's stock to his own Swiss bank account.

San Francisco >Attorney Kevin V. Ryan stated, "Operation Urban Harvest uncovered a large-scale marijuana trafficking operation involving over 25 locations in the Bay Area, including three San Francisco marijuana dispensaries. Documents unsealed today allege that this trafficking organization used several marijuana dispensaries in its conspiracy to facilitate the sale and distribution of illicit drugs, money laundering and international bulk cash smuggling. Over the course of this two-year investigation, over 17,000 marijuana plants were seized. The federal, state and local law enforcement agencies involved in this operation have done an outstanding job"
Yesterday's searches of 10 indoor grow sites led to seizures of over 9,000 marijuana plants, with a DEA estimated street value of over $5 million. Three firearms, ecstasy, and eight vehicles were also seized during yesterday's searches. Three marijuana dispensaries were searched in connection with these charges. Full Harvest.....................

Sacramento> Federal drug agents in California have launched a wide-ranging crackdown on medical marijuana providers. A husband and wife in Sacramento were arrested. And agents raided more than 20 San Francisco dispensaries. Officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U-S attorney's office would not say how many people were arrested or give other details. They plan to hold a news conference Thursday. Law enforcement officials say the actions were already in the works and unrelated to a recent Supreme Court ruling. The court ruled that federal laws trump state regulations legalizing medicinal marijuana.

Many psychiatric units have become little more than 'cannabis wards' because of the huge numbers turned psychotic by the drug, a mental health expert claimed yesterday. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the charity Sane, said the situation had become so serious that the entire mental health system was being 'distorted'. Patients with non drug-related mental illnesses were being turned away from some wards because the threat of violence from psychotic cannabis users had made them unsafe, she added. 'Doctors are saying to non cannabis-users, such as young girls with anorexia and middle-aged women, "I can't admit you if you are not taking cannabis, because it's not safe",' Miss Wallace said. Cannabis has changed the whole way in which the mental health system operates.The popular view of cannabis is that it is a harmless drug. It is not.' Miss Wallace's comments came a day after research in Sweden suggested cannabis can permanently damage the development of teenagers' brains, with users in the age group up to ten times more likely to suffer long-term mental illness. One of the most outspoken critics of the Government's decision to downgrade cannabis from a class B to a class C drug in January last year, Miss Wallace has spent 18 years trying to draw attention to the link between the drug and mental illness.'In all the years I have campaigned in the mental health field, I think I have only come across two examples of young people developing psychosis in which cannabis was not a factor,' she said. 'In London, 80 per cent of people assessed with a first episode of psychosis are on cannabis. The explosion in cannabis-induced psychosis is already happening.'

'cannabis-related drug offences per capita'
Merimbula
Bethany Dortmans
June 22nd 2005:

The number of cannabis-related drug offences per capita in the Bega Valley Shire is higher than that of the

state average, NSW Bureau of Crime data has shown.
These startling results have been revealed after data detailing the number of drug offences which occurred in the Bega Valley over a five-year period from 2000-2004, was compared to NSW data collected over the same period. The data showed that offences of possession and/or use of cannabis in the Bega Valley were 40 per cent higher per 100,000 people than the state average.
Over this five year period, the rate of cannabis cultivation offences per 100,000 people in the Bega Valley was almost four times the state average, while cannabis trafficking offences were 60 per cent higher than the state average. Cannabis trafficking, Full Captia.

Pro>Cannabis

campaigners will be taking to the streets of a Yorkshire city
after judges rejected use of the drug to alleviate chronic pain. This year's Cannabis Education 2005 event is expected to attract hundreds
of people from around the country, at a time when the drug is coming under
increasing criticism. A number of studies have shown that cannabis use roughly doubles the risk
of psychiatric illness such as schizophrenia among young people. Another
showed people with a family history of mental illness were four times at
risk of developing problems as those not considered vulnerable.Fronting the march in Hull will be wheelchair users who say the drug is vital to manage their pain. The rally's organiser, father-of-six, Carl Wagner, who openly sells drugs paraphernalia from the Divine Herb stall in Hull Market, said: "The fact remains that the vast majority of people who use cannabis claim no harm
whatsoever from its use; they claim benefit.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has given the clearest signal yet that he plans to reclassify cannabis as a

class B drug. Senior Home Office sources have told this paper that he has major concerns that the decision to downgrade cannabis has led to more people using the drug. They say that he is determined to reverse the decision of his predecessor David Blunkett to relax the laws on cannabis, which mean police could once again prosecute people found with the drug. Cannabis was downgraded from class B to class C in January 2004, but in March of this year Mr Clarke asked the Government's drugs advisers - the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) - to investigate reports of a link between cannabis use and mental health problems.This followed the publication of several studies which have suggested people who use the drug heavily may develop a paranoid reaction.The ACMD is expectedto complete its review by the end of the year but it is understood that Mr Clarke is still minded to raise the classification of cannabis even if the advisers find there is no evidence of a health risk.

Washington>Both

college towns, Boston and Boulder, Colo., share another distinction: They lead the nation in marijuana use. Northwestern Iowa and southern Texas have the lowest use. For the first time, the government looked at the use of drugs, cigarettes, alcohol and various other substances, legal as well as illegal, by region rather than by state for a report Thursday. Regions could be as specific as Riverside, Calif., or as broad as all of the state of New York (minus New York City). Federal officials say the information will help states decide where they should spend money for treatment and prevention programs. advertisement For marijuana, 5.1 percent of people around the country reported using it in the previous 30 days. In Boston, the home of Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern and several other colleges, 12.2 percent reported using marijuana in the previous 30 days. John Auerbach, executive director of the public health commission for Boston, said the survey might not reflect current marijuana use there because the data came from 1999-2001 national surveys.

U.S. pot activist gets bail, fights extradition
Canadian Press
June 18th 2005:

VANCOUVER -- A California woman who has been denied refugee status and ordered to return to the

United States to face marijuana charges was granted bail on Friday as she fights her extradition.
Renee Boje's case was adjourned until Sept. 30 in B.C. Supreme Court. Boje, who fled to B.C. in 1998, lives in Vancouver with her Canadian pot-activist husband Chris Bennett and their young child. She said Justice Minister Irwin Cotler had ordered her to surrender to authorities for deportation. The California charges relate to a grow operation for a medical marijuana patient. Boje said the justice minister rejected her claim that she was the victim of political persecution and would suffer cruel and unusual punishment in the U.S. Bennett, who runs the website Pot TV, said his wife could be jailed for a minimum 10 years because of her association with medical marijuana.

Drug war looks more like Prohibition
The Enquirer
Don Parcell
June 17th 2005:

I have

supported fighting illegal drugs since the war on drugs began, but recently I began to see the futility of it. We spend ever-increasing tax dollars here and abroad trying to reduce the supply, with no results. There are thousands of people in jail for violating drug laws who haven't harmed anyone but themselves, and hundreds more for violent crimes related to selling these drugs.
Neighborhoods and even entire cities are being destroyed and innocent people are being killed by thugs peddling drugs. Think of the neighborhoods in Cincinnati under siege. If the drug gangs aren't eliminated, Cincinnati could end up like Detroit, once a beautiful and prosperous city and a desirable place to live. Drug gangs turned it into a war zone, Full Tale............

A new government anti-marijuana campaign has reignited a long-smoldering debate over how dangerous the most widely used illegal drug in America really is and whether it should be the central focus of the nation's war on drugs. Headlined "Marijuana and your teen's mental health," an advertisement appearing in newspapers and magazines nationwide cites scientific studies in the last seven years that have found that regular use of marijuana in the teenage years can put users at risk of depression, suicidal impulses and schizophrenia later in life. "Still think marijuana's no big deal?" the ad asks parents. Yes, responds one leading advocate of decriminalizing marijuana. "If you want to focus on problem drugs in the U.S., marijuana is the last drug you would focus on," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which favors treating marijuana like alcohol: a legal product that is regulated, taxed and illegal for minors to use. "We have methamphetamine out there, we have heroin, we have OxyContin, we have booze, we have cigarettes. To make statements that marijuana in the hands of teenagers is this dangerous threat, it's ludicrous."

'only hippies and gangsters smoke marijuana'
Daily Utah Chronicle
Jay Richards
June 15th 2005

Last week,

the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that patients who use medicinal marijuana to control the pain of chronic illnesses will now be counted as criminals. This decision is based on a federal law that bans any use of marijuana. The law that prohibits the use of marijuana by private citizens, for any reason, stands in direct opposition to the principals of freedom and liberty. The human body, and decisions about what one does with one's body, is best left to the individual. We all know this. The concept of "do what you will until it violates the rights of another" is a common sentiment among free people.
Lost in this recent argument about medicinal marijuana is the history of how and why marijuana became illegal in the first place. In 1937, Congress passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which effectively outlawed hemp and marijuana production. There are many theories about the reasons behind the 1937 ban. One of these theories is that the cotton industry gave substantial amounts of money to the politicians who voted to outlaw hemp production. More.....

Doctors Applaud US Supreme Court Decision to Ban 'Medical Marijuana'
Christian Wire Service
June 14th 2005:

KLOOF, South Africa, June 14th /Christian Wire Service/ -- Doctors For Life International (DFL), applauds the decision of the US Supreme Court to outlaw the use of marijuana for medical purposes in the United States. Even though DFL does not oppose continued clinical research into the uses of "Medical Marijuana", science has clearly proved the adverse effects of using crude marijuana. DFL condones every effort made to ensure that medicines are effective, safe and scientifically validated and that they are free from pro-drug politics which is being promoted under the guise of "medicine". DFL is happy that the US Supreme Courts' pronouncement supports the judgement made by the South African Constitutional Court which banned the use of Marijuana. The Constitutional Court based it's decision on scientific evidence supplied by DFL to the court in 2001. Full Tale............

Court's ruling is act of exceptional cruelty
The Reverend Dr. Troy D. Perry
June 13th 2005:

Court's ruling is

act of exceptional cruelty. Human rights activist Rev. Troy Perry argues the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on medical marijuana treats sick people as criminals. With its ruling on medical marijuana, the U.S. Supreme Court has voted to treat sick people as criminals.By a vote of 6-3, the Court has effectively invalidated compassionate state laws, thereby prohibiting the use of medical marijuana by people who suffer from diabetes, glaucoma, cancer and HIV/AIDS.The Supreme Court's ruling is an act of exceptional cruelty.
California, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Vermont all have passed laws that allow for the compassionate use of this drug by individuals who suffer from chronic pain or the debilitating side effects of treatments for these illnesses. The Court's decision to invalidate these laws will lead to needless pain and suffering. More Crulety..........

'is pathetic, dangerous and totally unethical.
Modbee.com
Sam Carnemolla
June 12th 2005:

Should medical marijuana be legal? Yes, definitely, but not the way our state law established it. As a retired nurse,

I am helping an elderly person who has an end-stage disease and is a member of a marijuana club. Membership was obtained in Oakland. These dispensaries have no medical or pharmaceutical knowledge of what they are dispensing, and there is no listed strength or origin of the drug they are selling. They legally cannot tell you what dosages to use, plus, every one we have been to is a sleazy place in a sleazy neighborhood.
This would be a God-sent product if administered in a hospital dispensary setting by a registered pharmacist, and if the product had United States Pharmacopeia strength and dosage information.The way it is handled now is pathetic, dangerous and totally unethical.

The United States Attorney in Honolulu said federal authorities will continue to go after commercial marijuana growers and dealers but do not plan to go after individual users. U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo Jr. was responding to questions about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that federal law prohibiting marijuana supersedes state law allowing pot use for medicinal purposes. Kubo said despite the court's decision, his office will not actively seek to prosecute people who have certificates from the state to grow marijuana. He also said doctors who prescribe pot use will not be targeted.

'farmers will face extradition to the US'
The Gazette
Roberto Rocha
June 10th 2005:

Bedford resident Matthieu Larocque says he wasn't surprised by the massive police raids on marijuana fields in Eastern Townships farms Wednesday - everyone knew about the illicit crops. At every restaurant table, on every barstool, in every checkout line in Bedford, there was only one topic anyone could talk about. "We're very surprised," said Gilles Paidif, a window cleaner. "Actually, we were all waiting for it to happen," suggested Matthieu Larocque, who works at the local Toro dealership. "It was just a matter of time." Everyone knew or knew of the 11 local farmers arrested on Wednesday during a massive marijuana bust involving three police forces in two countries. And everyone seemed to know that what many farmers reaped was not always destined for the grain silos. But news travels quickly in this rural town 70 kilometres southeast of Montreal, so locals were wary of giving their names to journalists.Most were quick to defend the farmers who face extradition to the United States. Full Extradition...............

The latest decision of the US Supreme Court doesn't come as a surprise, as it leaves open the possibility for cancer patients or other cannabis users for medicinal purposes to be prosecuted under federal drug laws. The government seems now cruel hearted but its declared intention is to target all the drug dealers who might speculate a positive decision.
11 American states allow the use of medical marijuana by making little difference between sick people who need the drug to ease their pain and consume it on a strictly controlled regulation, and people growing and selling the drug without any restriction, in order to increase their profit.
California is one of 11 liberal states in the Far West and New England that have passed medicinal-marijuana laws, while Florida, for example, has never given serious consideration to the issue.

GW Pharmaceuticals slumped on reports that there may be more problems ahead for its cannabis-based Sativex treatment with the UK authorities asking for more trials.

The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to sanction the use of marijuana for medical purposes, dashing the hopes of thousands of US patients

illicitly using the substance for pain relief. By a vote of six to three, the US court refused permission for 10 states to allow residents to use the drug with a doctor's permission and under highly-regulated conditions.The case was brought by two California women, Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson. Raich suffers from an inoperable brain tumor, and insists that marijuana is the only remedy that alleviates her pain and allows her to to keep down enough food to stay alive.
Monson smokes marijuana to handle severe back pain.US government 'drug czar' John Walters welcomed the ruling, saying it struck a blow against pro-drug groups who preyed on the compassion of Americans. "For years, pro-drug groups seeking the legalization of marijuana and other drugs have preyed on the compassion of Americans to promote their political agenda and bypass FDA's (Food and Drug Administration) rigorous standards which have safeguarded our medical supply for over 100 years," Walters said in a statement."To date, science and research have not determined that smoking a crude plant is safe or effective," Walters said. Since 1996, California has allowed residents to cultivate cannabis for personal use if medically prescribed, a move followed by nine other states. In writing for the majority, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stephens refuted Raich's claim that "a locally cultivated product that is used domestically rather than sold on the open market is not subject to federal regulation ... given the ... undisputed magnitude of the commercial market for marijuana."

'It's crunch time for some of high court's biggest decisions'
USA Today
Joan Biskupic
June 6th 2005:

Washington> At the Supreme Court, the first Monday in June marks the beginning of crunch month. Decisions

in the most significant cases of the nine-month annual term usually are due, and Chief Justice William Rehnquist prods his colleagues to finish their work before the court's traditional summer break. The justices will rule on cases surrounding the Ten Commandments, legalizing marijuana and internet file-sharing.
Among the cases to be decided are those that test whether certain public displays of the Ten Commandments are unconstitutional; whether states may legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes; and whether companies that produce Internet file-sharing programs can be held liable for illegal copying by consumers. Full Decisions..............

Jakarta> About 40 people picketed here yesterday to demand the death sentence for an Australian convicted of drug trafficking in Bali and condemn a security scare at the Indonesian embassy in Canberra. A powder sent to the Canberra embassy on Wednesday sparked fears of an anthrax attack and was linked to outrage in Australia over a 20-year jail term handed to 27-year-old Schapelle Corby for trafficking marijuana. Carrying signs reading “Corby, drug dealer, must die”, the protesters outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta urged the Bali courts to reject her appeal and sentence her to death, as allowed under Indonesian law. Another placard read, “Intervention no! Australia is supplier of drugs”. More Death.................

At least one student remains "a person of interest" after officers recovered a significant amount of drugs from one of the Caledon high schools, police say. On May 27 officers from the OPP detachment's K-9 unit entered an unnamed school where they found several hundreds of dollars worth of marijuana, said Sgt. Bob Paterson. "We got a call from a school administrator stating that they had reason to believe drugs were located in the building," Paterson said, noting that the school cannot be identified because the investigation is still ongoing. "That gave us grounds to search (the premises) and we acted on it." Caledon's three high schools are: Robert F. Hall, Mayfield secondary school and Humberview. Paterson said the K-9 unit, comprised of two police officers and two dogs, found a stash of marijuana hidden in a ceiling compartment located directly above student lockers. Police suspect the drugs were going to be sold to students prior to the weekend.

'this is not about marijuana per se'
Cincinnati Enquirer
Gregory Korte
June 3rd 2005:

Cincinnati City Council could vote next week on an ordinance that would criminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana - even a single joint - increasing the maximum penalty from a $100 ticket now to as much as 60 days in jail.
Possession of small amounts of marijuana - up to 100 grams, or about 3.5 ounces - is a minor misdemeanor under both state law and city ordinance.
The penalty is equivalent to a civil citation: up to a $100 fine with no possibility of jail. Cops call those citations "weed tickets," equivalent to jaywalking or spitting on the sidewalk, More Tickets................

Milton Friedman leads a list of more than 500 economists from around the U.S. who today will publicly endorse a Harvard University economist's report on the costs of marijuana prohibition and the potential revenue gains from the U.S. government instead legalizing it and taxing its sale. Ending prohibition enforcement would save $7.7 billion in combined state and federal spending, the report says, while taxation would yield up to $6.2 billion a year.
At times the report uses some debatable assumptions: For instance, Miron assumes a single figure for every type of arrest, for example, but the average pot bust is likely cheaper than bringing in a murder or kidnapping suspect. Friedman and other economists, however, say the overall work is some of the best yet done on the costs of the war on marijuana, Full Report...........

'could mean the end of liberal Dutch policies'
Natchez Democrat
Toby Sterling
June 1st 2005:

Amsterdam, Netherlands >The Dutch voted in their first national referendum on Wednesday, choosing whether to accept

a proposed European Union constitution. Polls indicated the Netherlands would be the second country in four days to reject the idea. Recent surveys have shown almost 60 percent of voters will say no to the proposal. Following France's rejection of the charter on Sunday, a Dutch repudiation would leave Europe's leaders with no clear backup plan for what to do when two of the 25-nation union's members say they won't approve the new ground rules. "Let's not let ourselves be led by polls," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said Tuesday in a last-minute plea for a yes vote. "Let's hope that when they're in the voting booth, people think about all the people that say this constitution would be a positive development." That could mean the end of liberal Dutch policies such as tolerating marijuana use, prostitution and euthanasia.