Swiss approve pioneering legal heroin program

[BIGMAN131307]

Swiss approve pioneering legal heroin program

BERN, Switzerland – A pioneering Swiss program to give addicts government-authorized heroin was overwhelmingly approved Sunday by voters who simultaneously rejected the decriminalization of marijuana.

Sixty-eight percent of voters approved making the heroin program permanent. It has been credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts since it began 14 years ago.

Only 36.8 percent of voters favored the marijuana intitiative.

Olivier Borer, 35, a musician from the northern town of Solothurn, said he welcomed the outcome in part because state action was required to help heroin addicts but legalizing marijuana was a bad idea.

"I think it's very important to help these people, but not to facilitate the using of drugs. You can just see in the Netherlands how it's going. People just go there to smoke," Borer said.

Parliament approved the heroin measure in a revision of Switzerland's narcotics law this past March, but conservatives challenged the decision and forced a national referendum under Switzerland's system of direct democracy.

The heroin program has helped eliminate scenes of large groups of drug users shooting up openly in parks that marred Swiss cities in the 1980s and 1990s, supporters say.

Why can't countries put this much effort into legislation for needed medical research??

[brain]

Sad but true, but then again the world is
a very strange place!

Only in those countries you just listed,
coffee is considered a "No No" and is often
a stumbling block while alcohol is just fine,
but over here, coffee is considered just fine
while alcohol is considered to be a stumbling
block ... and what a great divide there is between
the distance between here and there...

As it's been said...
"The East and West will never meet"

[drarvindr]

That is probably THE DUMBEST IDEA I HAVE EVER HEARD! what kind of moron supplies an addict with drugs? You're wasting your country's valuable resource in giving people who willingly chose to mess with drugs more drugs? I live in a country with many patients of leprosy.Once on treatment , it is not even contagious. Yet they face more stigma than many people with HIV, mostly because the government (inept SOBs) spends more money on educating people about HIV than about leprosy.
Why not spend the money on compulsory rehab programs for these people. Their "idea" is - Smoking causes lung cancer. We have decided to speed these people on their way to death by providing them with free marlboros at every corner.We also want to inform the public that free johnny walkers will be provided to the first ten alcoholics who decide to drive drunk on our new designated drunk driver lanes. That's just stupid.OK , they made some bad choices , but that doesn't mean you have to make it easier for them to continue their habit and make quitting that much harder. It is very difficult to quit any addiction. Try quitting your morning cup of coffee( i tried this). If you're as much a coffee junkie as i am , you will feel awful after 2 days. Yet because coffee is socially acceptable and not as much of a health risk , we think it's different.We need to empathise to a certain degree and understand that quitting is not as easy as we non-addicts think and giving them free heroin/whatever is not the solution.

[Bernard]

... Why not spend the money on compulsory rehab programs for these people. ...

The nearly 1,300 selected addicts, who have been unhelped by other therapies, visit one of the centers twice a day to receive the carefully measured dose of heroin produced by a government-approved laboratory.

They keep their paraphernalia in cups labeled with their names and use the equipment and clean needles to inject themselves — four at a time — under the supervision of a nurse, and also receive counseling from psychiatrists and social workers.

Sounds like a first step in that direction.

[drarvindr]

Giving people needles and making this program seem like a clinical trial isn't going to help long term. The only thing that will come down is a bit of crime related to drugs. Sometimes , it is necessary to take harder decisions to get long term benefits rather than simple solutions that will help short term. I agree that they have thought the thing out , but from what many of my friends who've managed to quit smoking have told me , quitting cold turkey with support from peers is the only way to reliably quit. weaning helps some people , i admit , but the best effects are seen by cold turkey quitting. 12 step programs will go a long way to ensuring they do not revert to drugs.
My point is , in making drug use socially acceptable and easily accesible, you are removing one of the reasons drug users have to quit. You have to hit rock bottom to be motivated enough to bounce back. And what about those that have not taken up drugs yet? The deterrent of the law no longer upon them will lead to an increased number of addicts , in fact all they have to do is to claim they are addicts and get into a program. It is safer to keep drug laws under tight control and initiate the said program amongst prisoners convicted for drug offenses , ensuring that once they come out of jail , they'll be better off. There needs to be a strong message out to society that drugs are bad for your health , and obtaining them illegally will have severe consequences. the only way the program will work is if they ENSURE that absolutely NO drugs are available anywhere else but in these programs , which is impossible.

[ziggidypoo]

Very good points indeed, doc. In Miami, we have a HUGE # of homeless people who beg for money or sell stolen stuff or their bodies just for a rock (crack or cocaine) and many will not go to shelters which Miami has enormous shelters and facilities for the homeless. Many of the addicts and alcoholics who are homeless are Veterans. Many do not WANT help. I know, I've talked to them. They get their whole check and spend it on their own addiction and live under the bridges, or right out in the open. Any of us could be homeless in a heart beat, but if help is there.... We live in an Assisted Living Facility and many residents are Veterans and many came off of the street - the place gets 100% of the monthly check and gives the resident an allowance ($54/mo) - but all needs are supplied. This way, having so little to work with, it gives enough for just a taste of the poison that put the person on the street to begin with. Is this the answer??? if I know!!

One gripe I have when it comes to all of this expenditure of government money on little projects - they spend zillions (my favorite amt) on things like the mating sessions of such and such insects - squash the bugs and use the money to do research to find an addiction solution or research to find a cure for something. "SAVE THE WHALES" - what about "SAVE THE PEOPLE"???????

I'm serious.

Also, while I'm fired up and po'd - here in Miami home of the rich and homeless - there are parties for the rich where zillions of dollars are spent on party dresses/attire and catering and bands and and and - ONE party would feed a BUNCH of homeless and helpless people FOOD that cannot be put in a vein or drunken from a bottle - or put a roof on a house from a hurricane 3 or 4 yrs ago still covered with a tarp because they had no insurance.

I'm done.

(Hey Doc, we're having milk and cookies in the corner room - you and your gal want to join us gripers???)