Pubdate: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 Source: Advertiser, The (Australia) Contact: http://www.advertiser.com.au/ CANNABIS REFORM MOTION 'TOO SOFT' A PLAY for radical drug-law reform has attracted criticism for being "soft on drugs". A motion to separate cannabis laws from those governing other illegal drugs was brought before Parliament by the Democrats Leader, Mr Mike Elliott, yesterday. The motion drew on the beneficial effects Mr Elliott said he saw in the Netherlands, where cannabis laws were separate. Mr Elliott said Switzerland's heroin trial had been successful "beyond dispute" and in the Netherlands drug deaths had fallen. But a Liberal MP, Mr Martin Hamilton-Smith, said it "will be perceived as being soft on drugs". He said while there was a "good argument" for a heroin trial, making cannabis laws separate from those for other drugs would be seen as "soft". - --- Checked-by: Rolf Ernst