TIP HAT TO SWISS

Regarding 'Fighting pill mills' (Our Views, May 18): For the short
run, we have no alternative. But for the long run we should consider
other methods. The best example is a Swiss 'experiment' to offer
heroin to hard-core addicts while greatly expanding methadone
maintenance. It began is 1994 and is now known as HAT (heroin
assisted treatment). In a 2008 referendum the Swiss people voted over
2 to 1 to make it a permanent part of their national health system.

While methadone is used for 95 percent of the addicts, heroin is
available to the 5 percent for whom methadone is ineffective. It
pays for itself in improved public health and safety, and enables
addicts to hold jobs and pay taxes. The average age at registration is
slowly rising, an indication that kids are not becoming addicted, and
the number of patients needing heroin has stabilized at about 1,300.
Use of drugs other than opiates has either declined or stayed the
same. The key to success was to de-politicize the issue and involve
both law enforcement and the medical community.

John Chase

Palm Harbor