Inside a Government Run Swiss Herion Clinic
By Michael Lang on Dec 1, 2008 in SOLVERS AND SOLUTIONS
Swiss voters have approved a radical health policy that offers prescription heroin to addicts on a permanent basis.
Final results from the national referendum showed 68% of voters supported the plan.
The scheme, allowing addicts to inject the drug under medical supervision at a clinic, began in Zurich 14 years ago before spreading across the country.
But in another referendum vote, 63% of voters rejected the decriminalisation of cannabis……. GO FIGURE?
The heroin vote was one of a series of referendums held to decide policy on illegal drugs.
Under the scheme, addicts visit clinics up to twice a day, where they inject the drug under medical supervision. They can also be treated for other medical issues or mental health problems, out correspondent says.
The policy is described as one of last resort - prescribing addicts with the very drug that caused their problems in the first place - but supporters say it works, and Swiss voters appear to have agreed, the BBC’s Imogen Foulkes in Berne says.
Switzerland will be the first country to include it in government policy.
Supporters say it has had positive results - getting long-term addicts out of Switzerland’s once notorious "needle parks" and reducing drug-related crime.
Opponents say heroin prescription sends the wrong message to young people and harms the addicts themselves. We would like to know what that message is and exactly what “harms” do the addicts encounter.
On the cannabis issue, the government had opposed a change to the law although Swiss police regularly turn a blind eye to moderate cannabis use.
It appears that the Swiss do not have a very congruent drug policy that conveys a consistent message to the “using” population as well as the general population.
But recent studies suggesting that long-term use of the drug may be more harmful than previously thought had looked likely to encourage a "No" to decriminalisation.
Jo Lang, a Green Party MP from Zug, said he was disappointed that the proposal to change the law on cannabis had failed.
"People have died from alcohol and heroin, but not from cannabis," said Mr Lang.
AROUND the BLOGOSPHERE:
Swiss To Ok Prescription Heroin? « The Political Fancier - In the United States, methadone clinics are used to wean addicts off of heroin. It was developed by Nazis during WWII as a substitute for raw opium and was brought to our country by Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company. …
The Methadone Clinic Next To George Washington University « ARM-ME … - According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s fact sheet, methadone is a medication that curbs withdrawal and dependence symptoms by blocking receptors in the brain accustomed to an opioid, usually heroin. …
Study Supports A Flexible Approach To Methadone Dosing « ARM-ME BLOG - Trafton and colleagues studied 222 heroin addicted volunteers who started methadone treatment at 8 different clinics and followed them for a year. They examined the range of methadone doses which helped patients achieve heroin …
Safe heroin use site has uncertain fate - The National Newspaper - Earl Crowe, a former heroin addict who used Insite for two years, said more safe injection sites are necessary. “I know lots of people whose lives have been saved at Insite,” said Mr Crowe, who is now prescribed daily dose of methadone, …
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