European Activists Join Americans at French International Cannabis Conference

CONFERENCES AND MEETINGS July 1993

French and other Europeans joined Americans at the first French conference on marijuana reform June 18 in Paris (Dale Gieringer, "Report From France: First International Cannabis Day Conference," California NORML, Special Communication, June 1993).

The conference was hosted by the recently formed Cannabis Information and Research Collective. California National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) director Dale Gieringer attended, as did psychiatrist Thomas Szasz. Europeans included Dr. John Marks of Liverpool, and representatives from the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. A resolution was drafted calling for the repeal of prohibition and establishment of a "secure legal framework for all human beings to use the drugs of their choice."

The conference came at a time of high interest in cannabis, according to Gieringer. He cited stories in Le Parisien (6/25/93), Le Jour (6/19/93 - 6/20/93), Le Monde (6/17/93), and Liberation (6/19/93 - 6/20/93).