RESPONSE TO MARTIN

There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket
legalization.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce
disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with
standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the
problems associated with illicit heroin use.

The success of the Swiss program has inspired heroin maintenance pilot
projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the
Netherlands.

If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized
crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin
trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction.

Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the
ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is
critical. As long as marijuana distribution is controlled by organized
crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will continue to
come into contact with sellers of addictive drugs like
methamphetamine.

Given that marijuana is arguably safer than legal alcohol, it makes no
sense to waste tax dollars on failed policies that finance organized
crime and facilitate hard drug use. Drug policy reform may send the
wrong message to children, but I like to think the children are more
important than the message.

For information on the efficacy of heroin maintenance please read the
following British Medical Journal report: www.bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310

To learn more about Canada's heroin maintenance research please visit:
www.naomistudy.ca