AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (Reuter) Dutch authorities plan to issue
free heroin to 50 longterm users in a 3month experiment that could
pave the way for a larger scheme, Dutch television reported
Wednesday.

Parliament approved health minister Els Borst's proposal for the experiment,
which is aimed at weaning the addicts off the streets, improving their health
and reducing crime.

Selection will start on March 1, 1998, and the free heroin distribution will
start two months later. If parliament considers the experiment a success, it
will be extended to about 750 longterm addicts.

Earlier Wednesday, a Dutch cleric who had been selling cutprice heroin to
longterm drug users was forced to stop his scheme just days after its
controversial launch, local news agency ANP reported.

Protestant clergyman Hans Visser, who had appeared before Rotterdam's public
prosecutor earlier this week to explain his behavior, said he would obey the
law and stop supplying heroin.

Visser had said he was trying to raise awareness that something needed to be
done to help addicts who were in poor health and had no hope of kicking their
habit.