OLD JUNKIES NEVER DIE, THEY GO INTO A RETIREMENT HOME

CHRISTMAS WILL come early this year for Carlos Prade. In a few weeks' time,
Rotterdam's newest residential home for retired people will be ready and
Carlos will be moving in. Peering through a pair of funky blue tinted
glasses, Carlos admits he is weary now. He wants to take it easy, let
someone else take the strain.

Although a fresh-faced 59, he suffers from aches and pains, his hands are
shaking and he speaks in a whisper. His grip on reality appears tenuous. He
shuffles off mid-conversation and then suddenly says: "I want to go to
England. To see Elizabeth." Then he breaks into a song.

In the home, a converted town house, Carlos will have his own room and
bathroom. There will be television, a communal kitchen for anyone capable of
cooking. Round-the-clock medical care is guaranteed as well as trained staff
to look after his "psycho-social needs". There will not be any official
supply of dope heroin or cocaine. But Carlos has no worries on that score.
He is about to become the first resident of the world's first old folks home
for drug addicts.

The Netherlands has the healthiest drug addicts in the world. So healthy
that they are turning into pensioners and the authorities have a geriatric
drug policy dilemma on their hands.

The average age of drug users in the country has risen to 36, the highest in
the world. Thanks to a policy based on health rather than criminalisation,
that is increasing by 10 months each year. In Rotterdam alone at least 100
people have made it to the age bracket of 55 to 70.

But substance abuse takes its toll and, although they are living longer,
Dutch junkies are old before their time. "At 55 or 60 they are displaying
symptoms of people 20 years older. Senility is common. They forget things
and feel threatened," explained Harry Kuiper of the Boumanhuis Foundation,
one of the biggest drug addiction agencies in the Netherlands.

Most old people fret about keeping warm and getting to the shops and the
pension office. But geriatric junkies have the added stress of having to
hold their own in the drug scene which, even in an ultra-tolerant society
where consumption is not prosecuted, is run by criminals. Procuring
narcotics, knowing when you are being fobbed off with inferior stuff and
finding enough money to keep the dealers happy is not that easy when you
have difficulty walking unaided.

Now, in response to a novel proposal from the Rotterdam Junkiebond, the drug
addicts' union, the municipal health authority has agreed to finance an old
folks home, devoted exclusively to drug users, for a one-year pilot scheme.

"This will be a totally new development not just for the Netherlands and
Europe, but for the world," said Mr Kuiper, a keen supporter of the plan.

It is not on, he says, to integrate the junkies with ordinary senior
citizens because they might have difficulty finding acceptance. "Most
elderly people would tolerate a person taking a drink or smoking a
cigarette, but just one gram of heroin in an old people's home and they
would want you out."

Nora Storm, whose idea it was, has already given the residence a name.
"Coconuts. One of the old men chose it," she said. "He's on coke and he's
nuts".

A formidable woman in her fifties, Ms Storm is the Junkiebond president and
has turned her own home over to accommodation for junkies of all ages. She
runs a tight ship. Drugs are allowed in the rooms but you must show that you
are making an effort to limit consumption and you must find a job and pay
your way.

The inauguration of Coconuts means she can at last stop worrying about the
grand-daddies as she calls them. "They can't cope. Their brains are going
and they leave on the gas sometimes. And they are lonely. The music is not
the same these days. They also have the problem that their grandchildren
won't visit them."

Initially, the plan is to restrict the home to seven residents. Out of their
pensions they will pay about UKP180 a month rent. There will be no pressure
to kick the habit. So where will the drugs come from? "It won't be a
problem," is all Nora will say. She foresees a growing demand for such homes
and insists that it should be up to the national health service to take over
the cost and running of them. Mr Kuiper agrees. "This is not an indulgence
or an amusement," he said. "These people need special care."

The broad-minded Netherlands approach to drug use is legendary but a
national home plan for old junkies may be a bridge too far. Rotterdam's
health authority is pioneering a controversial scheme to distribute free
heroin to serious addicts but, even here, the location of the house is being
kept secret. "Neighbours think it will attract traffickers to the area. But
we certainly don't want it to be in an isolated part of town, cut off from
the community," said Mr Kuiper.

Local newspapers have been running stories about how drugs will be delivered
each day by the home's in house dealer. A claim flatly denied by all
involved. "There will be no buying or selling. Not in the house," Mr Kuiper
said.

"In the end," he sighed, "it all comes down to an acceptance of drug use. At
the heart of this debate is the question of whether we can accept elderly
people using heroin, even in small amounts. I'm not sure everyone can. This
might be too much, even for Holland."

Checked-by: Don Beck