LIBERAL SWISS HEROIN LAWS 'CUT NUMBER OF ADDICTS'

Switzerland's liberal policy of offering heroin addicts substitute
drugs appears to be paying off, according to new research.

The number of new heroin users in Zurich has declined by 82 per cent
since the policy of prescribing addicts with other opiates was introduced.

In Switzerland it is common for addicts to be given substitution
treatment with two other opiates, methadone or buprenorphine.

They are also provided with rooms - known as "shooting galleries" -
where they can inject prescribed liquid heroin, and have easy access
to needle exchanges.

In a report published today in the Lancet, the medical journal,
researchers reveal that the number of new users in the Swiss city
fell from 850 in 1990 to 150 in 2002.

The study looked at data from more than 7,250 addicts in Zurich who
were treated with the drugs over 13 years.

The trend is in marked contrast with that in the UK, Italy and
Austria, where heroin use has continued to rise.

However, a low quit rate in Zurich meant that the overall number of
people dependent on heroin declined by a fairly small margin of 4 per
cent per year.

Dr Carlos Nordt, from the Psychiatric Hospital in Zurich, who led the
research, said: "As the Swiss population supported this drug policy,
this medicalisation of opiate dependence changes the image of heroin
use as a rebellious act to an illness that needs therapy.

"Finally, heroin seems to have become a 'loser drug', with its
attractiveness fading for young people.

"Nevertheless, whether drug policy had a positive effect on the
number of new heroin users or not, our data could not confirm an
increase of heroin incidence as expected by the critics of the
liberal Swiss drug policy."