Swiss Vote to Keep Current Drug Policy

ZURICH (Reuter) Switzerland voted by a clear majority Sunday to reject a
proposal to end a federal program allowing some addicts to receive hard drugs.

In the referendum, 1.3 million Swiss, or 70.6 percent of voters, opposed a
"Youth without Drugs" initiative whose sponsors included the rightist Swiss
People's Party, the Liberal Democrats and several athletes and former
athletes.

The Swiss cabinet and most of parliament wanted to keep the current
program, arguing that it had helped to reduce crime while improving the
lives of addicts.

The program uses a varied approach, including abstinence for some drug
users. But some hardcore addicts are able to get hard drugs, including
heroin, as well as methadone or other substances and hypodermic syringes,
on a controlled basis.

Thomas Zeltner, director of the Swiss Federal Health Agency, said the vote
showed that most people "do in fact recognize that the successes of the
last years for the drug policy were important and that we want to continue
in this direction..."

Ethan Nadelmann, director of the Lindesmith Center, a New York drug policy
thinktank funded by investor George Soros, said the result could also have
implications for U.S. drug policy.

"Fortunately the Swiss have decided to deal effectively, pragmatically and
humanely with the harm associated with drugs and addiction. This vote sends
a strong message to the U.S. and other countries that a sensible drug
policy works," he said in a statement.

In a second referendum, voters rejected an attempt to reverse a government
decision to cut spending on unemployment insurance.

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