DUTCH BACK FREE HEROIN FOR ADDICTS

The Netherlands took a highly controversial step towards liberalising
already lax drug laws yesterday when the government came out in favour
of giving free heroin to addicts.

Encouraged by five-year trials on addicts in six of the country's
largest cities, the government formally asked parliament to endorse
proposals to hand out heroin, in combination with methadone, to
addicts deemed "beyond help".

The plans have caused disquiet among some sections of society, where
sceptics feel that heroin addicts will receive better "treatment" than
many people who suffer from problems that are not self-inflicted.

One media source said: "Some people have made the point that patients
suffering from cancer cannot access the necessary expensive treatment
but that drug addicts will be able to get free heroin and many believe
that it isn't fair."

A year's supply of heroin for one person would cost the Dutch
government ?9,350 - about ?25 per day. There are about 25,000 addicts
in the Netherlands, but only 2,000 of these are thought to be hardcore
addicts.

The health minister, Els Borst, said that the cost of feeding addicts'
habits will be offset by savings on medical treatment, prison space
and law enforcement.

And she stressed that they will need to meet strict criteria before
they can use the scheme, which is expected to begin this year once it
gets parliament's backing.

Under the pilot schemes - set up in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague,
Utrecht, Groningen and Heerlen - the conditions for taking part are
stringent. Participants, who must be aged at least 25, are required to
have been addicts for five years and to have tried a methadone
programme. Their life expectancy must be less than one year.

The nationwide programme will not be quite so strict, according to the
health ministry. But it will be for hardcore addicts only.

"We are talking about the really hopeless cases here," a spokeswoman
from the health ministry said yesterday. "This is the last resort."

If parliament approves the scheme, the Netherlands will once again
lead EU nations when it comes to liberal drugs laws.

The move, which comes three years after Switzerland began handing out
heroin to addicts, could trigger a wave of similar initiatives in Europe.