EURO MP BACKS CALL FOR 'HEROIN ON NHS'

CUMBRIA -- TMS Liberal Democrat Euro-MP Chris Davies yesterday backed
the idea of heroin addicts getting a free NHS supply of the drug.

Mr Davies said the medical prescription of heroin could help sever
the link between addiction and drug dealers, saving lives and
reducing the harm to society from drug-fuelled crime.

The Manchester-based North West MEP cited research published in the
medical journal The Lancet which claimed this approach had helped
achieve an 82 per cent decline in heroin use in the Swiss city of
Zurich in 10 years.

Doctors there can prescribe addicts with heroin to be injected in
clinics up to three times a day.

Researchers concluded that this removed 'glamour' from drug use and
gave addicts stability and the opportunity to rethink their lives.

Mr Davies pointed out that in Britain, more than 50 per cent of
burglaries are blamed on addicts who need to steal to fund their addiction.

The MEP said: "I've long argued that we must break the link between
the criminals who make huge sums of money out of supplying drugs and
the people upon whom they prey."

"Providing addicts with heroin through the NHS can undermine the criminals."