DRUG DISTRIBUTION WOULD CURB CRIME

A Baltimore grand jury's recommendation that doctors distribute narcotics
to heroin addicts merits serious consideration ("Grand jury suggests
distribution of drugs to fight evils of trafficking," May 8).

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 drug prices.

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

Indeed, 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. The success of the Swiss
experiment has led to pilot heroin maintenance programs in Germany, Spain
and the Netherlands.

Expanded, prescription heroin maintenance could deprive organized crime of
a core client base. This could render illegal heroin trafficking
unprofitable and spare future generations the pain of drug addiction.