HEROIN YODELLERS HIT WRONG NOTES

FOR five years Australians have been told that the Swiss heroin trial is the
best thing to come out of that country since the cuckoo clock.

The self-publicists in the drug business, some of whom have taken money from
international financier George Soros, who wants to see all drugs legalised
and young people sink or swim regardless, have claimed that it is
"progressive" to keep junkies doped and asserted that the Swiss experiment
has been an outstanding success.

With few resources to conduct their own research, some of the airheads of
the airwaves have swallowed this line and committed themselves to the
platform supported by George Soros's award recipient Alex Wodak and the
emotionally committed Tony Trimingham.

The reality, according to research commissioned by the World Health
Organisation, however, is that the much-relied upon data from the Swiss
experiment has more holes in it than the country's famed cheese.

The harm minimisationists who are now in the ludicrous position of
supporting an illegal shooting gallery up at the Cross, but also backing a
ban on cigarette smoking within the walls of the dope den, will no doubt
claim that the WHO is US-dominated, as if it was only the US that
disapproved of smack.

That claim doesn't hold up, but anyway, why shouldn't sceptics examine trial
data, particularly data coming from Switzerland, the only country shifty
enough to have marketed a food on the basis that it must consist
substantially of holes.

As everyone who has looked soberly at the Swiss stunt knows, the junkies
involved benefit from a wide range of services, perhaps the least of which
is the clinically administered heroin.

There are also sweeping social and psychological services made available,
but unlike most trials, there was no control group, something no first year
biology student would accept.

Indeed, those reviewing the test said it was not clear if the same results
could have been achieved without the prescription of heroin, or whether the
improvements in health and wellbeing recorded were due to the intensive
non-drug treatment they received.

According to the WHO report, the evaluation found there was no convincing
evidence that heroin prescription leads to a better outcome than methadone
treatment, even for hardcore users.

It also found that while reported criminal activity declined, no data was
provided to indicate the frequency or financial costs associated with these
offences, or to back up claims that reduction in criminal behaviour
continued after junkies dropped out of the treatment program.

Above all, it must be remembered that those conducting the Swiss experiment
were all determined to present it as a success, just as those spruiking it
here are unlikely to explore its lack of hard scientific fact.

Yet, WHO's report stands as an independent survey, as does the UN's 1997
International Narcotics Control Board report which firmly expressed the view
that no further experiments should be undertaken until the Swiss project had
undergone full and independent evaluation.

The INCB said it was concerned that the Swiss Government's own evaluation
released in 1997 and a subsequent national referendum on the Swiss drug
policy "have led to misinterpretation and hasty conclusions by some
politicians and the media".

It noted its regret that pressure groups and some politicians had promoted
the expansion of such programs in Switzerland and their proliferation in
ther countries before the WHO evaluation.

WHO's evaluation certainly justifies that caution.

Those committed to yodelling the Swiss line at the NSW drug summit next week
should take their cow bells elsewhere.