HEROIN IN WEYMOUTH

Regarding Jim Bowen's May 4 column, because heroin is sold via an
unregulated illicit market, its quality and purity fluctuate tremendously.
A user accustomed to low-quality heroin who unknowingly uses near pure
heroin will likely overdose. The inevitable tough-on-drugs response to
overdose deaths threatens public safety. Attempts to limit the supply of
drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of
trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices
leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate
habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime.

While the United States remains committed to harmful drug policies modeled
after alcohol prohibition, Europe has largely abandoned the drug war in
favor of harm reduction alternatives. Switzerland's heroin maintenance
trials have been shown to reduce drug-related disease, death and crime
among chronic users. Addicts would not be sharing needles if not for
zero-tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes, nor would they
be committing crimes if not for artificially inflated black-market prices.

Providing chronic addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting
eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use. Heroin
maintenance pilot projects are underway in Germany, Spain and the
Netherlands. If expanded, prescription maintenance would deprive organized
crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking
unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. Putting public health
before politics 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:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Arlington, VA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy