Swiss Experiment Halves Death Rate
Heroin trials of the sort called for by the Australian National Crime Authority have been going on in Switzerland since 1994. As a result of the Swiss program, Heroin deaths more than halved between 1992 and 1998. The Swiss model has been adopted in The Netherlands and is being considered in Greece.
Reprinted from The Sydney Morning Herald by Brigid Delaney
SWISS EXPERIMENT HALVES DEATHS AND WINS PUBLIC SUPPORT
Heroin trials of the sort called for by the National Crime Authority have been going on in Switzerland since 1994. They, and trials in The Netherlands, are recognised for their radical measures to maintain and rehabilitate drug offenders through injection room and heroin prescription programs.
The programs were developed as last-resort measures after law enforcement and the courts were deemed to have failed.
In the 1980s the Swiss cities of Bern and Zurich become known for their "needle parks", escalating overdose deaths and related crime. It has been claimed that the drug tests have been a waste of public money and sanctioning heroin use.
However, heroin deaths more than halved between 1992 and 1998, and 71 per cent of the Swiss population voted in a referendum in 1997 to continue the program.The Swiss model has been adopted in The Netherlands and is being considered in Greece.
The Chief Justice of the Queensland Supreme Court, Mr Paul de Jersey, said in a recent conference paper: "The current initiatives in Switzerland command apparently substantial public support, [which is] the result of widespread public acceptance that desperately intractable drug addiction demands a compassionate public response."
Australia has dealt with the problem through the courts, including the one-year-old Parramatta drug court, specifically equipped to deal with drug offenders. However, some lawyers and judges have found the legal system inadequate. Whether representing or sentencing users, members of the legal profession face the depressing reality of seeing many addicts cartwheel through a system that does not adequately address the health problems of addiction.
A former president of the NSW Law Society, Mr John North, said yesterday: "Drugs are a problem I see every day in the legal system. We strongly believe that such a trial is the lesser of the two evils. While we have ever increasing penalties and other measures through the courts, this is just pulling at the edges of the problem."
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