HEROIN SHOULD BE FREE FOR ADDICTS

Swiss Policy On Heroin Shows Realistic Response To Desperate
Problem

Sir, You report in detail that Switzerland has made access to heroin
free to registered users (Thunderer, Dec 1).

We have suffered the death of a son who was a heroin addict and have
come face to face with its lasting damaging effects. His condition
both mentally and physically, together with the family distress that
his addiction caused, could have been dealt with more effectively had
heroin addiction been declared and treated as a "notifiable" disease.
It is suggested that control of cultivation and supply by agencies
such as the UN, the World Health Organisation or Nato might place
society in a better position to deal with this as a notifiable
disease. Might we see a truce in Afghanistan?

The massive support (69 per cent) shown by the Swiss referendum to
provide free heroin to addicts is a mature and realistic response in
how to deal with a desperate problem. The 60 per cent reduction in
heroin-related crimes alone in Switzerland should encourage our
society to follow its example.

One significant long-term benefit that may emerge from this approach
will be that by making heroin addiction a notifiable disease and
publicising it as such, we may see a long-term decline in addiction
rates for this drug. Anything that deglorifies this habit in the eyes
of children has got to be an improvement in how we are currently
dealing with it. Let's remove the tawdry "street market" attraction
for heroin addiction and place it in the hands of the medical profession.

David Culm

Littleover, Derby