Pubdate: Fri, 8 Aug 1997 Source: Trierischen Volksfreund Page 1 Trier, Germany (on the Lux border). No more jail for hashsmokers Luxemburg loosens up oldfashioned drug laws Testtrial with "Fixerstuben" (controlled heroin distribution and injection sites) LUXEMBURG. The government of the Grand Duchy wants to relax its hitherto strict punishment for drug consumers, according to the Minister of Justice Marc Fischbach und the Minister of Health Johny Lahure yesterday. The proposal states that in the future consumers of soft drugs will only receive a fine of up to 5000 Marks instead of a prison sentence. Whoever consumes hard drugs is, however, still threatened with jail, but the maximum sentence of three years is to be reduced to one year. It is also new that harmreduction measures such as needle exchange and methadoneprograms will receive a legal basis for the first time. Further planned as pilot projects are both "Fixerstuben" and the controlled distribution of heroin to heavily addicted persons. The present drug law is already 24 years old and recently has been increasingly criticized.