NEED TO SEPARATE HARD AND SOFT DRUGS

GWYNNE Dyer's January 12 column was right on target. There is a middle
ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalisation.
Switzerland's heroin maintenance programme has been shown to reduce
disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with
standardised doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the
problems associated with heroin use. Heroin maintenance pilot projects
are underway in Canada, England, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organised
crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin
trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the
ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is
critical. As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of
organised crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will
continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine.
Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes no
sense to waste scarce resources on failed policies that finance
organised crime and facilitate the use of hard drugs. Drug policy
reform may send the wrong message to children, but I like to think the
children are more important than the message.

For information on the efficacy of heroin maintenance please read the
following British Medical Journal report:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310

To learn more about heroin maintenance research in Canada please
visit: http://www.naomistudy.ca/

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy