FRC Speaks Out Against Drug Legalization and Needle Exchange at Swiss
Conference

WASHINGTON, April 11 /PRNewswire/ "As our nation flirts with the idea of
medical marijuana and toys with failed needle exchange programs, it is clear
that the U.S. is following the Swiss example on drug policy," Family Research
Council's Senior Policy Analyst Robert Maginnis said Friday. "That's why
it's so appropriate that the Second International Symposium Against Drugs
takes place in the heart of drug policy 'experimentation' in Switzerland."

On April 1213, Maginnis will discuss the AIDS crisis and the drug
legalization movement at an international symposium held in Stadtsaal
Zofingen and hosted by AIDS Information Switzerland and Swiss Physicians
Against Drugs. Lawmakers and activists will espouse policy solutions and
profile the impact of drug addiction and its link with the spread of the
virus that causes AIDS.

Also attending the symposium will be U.S. Representative J. Dennis Hastert
(RIL), Daniel Schecter, Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, and representatives from the Drug Enforcement Administration
and the U.S. State Department. Participants will include experts from many
nations and 26 nongovernment AIDS and drug prevention organizations.

Maginnis said: "Switzerland has just completed a multiyear heroin giveaway
experiment. Although the Swiss have declared their quasilegalization
'experiment' successful, other nations are very skeptical. This fall the
Swiss people will decide whether to endorse or put an end to drug
legalization.

"The medicalization of illicit drugs like marijuana and heroin (via needle
exchanges) are popular ideas fueled by those advocating drug legalization.
These ideas are clear precursors for 'experiments' like the one recently
completed in Switzerland. How far behind the 'successful' Swiss 'experiment'
is America?"

During his visit to Switzerland, Maginnis will be filming a video which will
be used by the Swiss organization, "Youth Without Drugs," to educate voters
and Swiss parliamentarians on the consequences of drug legalization.

SOURCE Family Research Council