OTHER COUNTRIES TAKE ENLIGHTENED APPROACH TO ADDICTION

Because heroin is sold via an unregulated black market, its quality
and purity fluctuate tremendously. A user accustomed to low-quality
heroin, who unknowingly uses pure heroin, will likely overdose.

The inevitable tough-on-drugs reaction to overdose deaths is part of
the problem.

Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains
constant only increase the profitability of drug 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 U.S. remains committed to moralistic drug policies modeled
after alcohol prohibition, Europe has largely abandoned the drug war
in favor of public health alternatives.

Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce
drug-related disease, death and crime among chronic users.

Providing chronic addicts with standardized doses in a clinical
setting eliminates many of the problems associated with illicit heroin use.

Heroin maintenance pilot projects are underway in Canada, Germany,
Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin
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:
www.bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310.

To learn more about heroin maintenance research in Canada, please
visit: www.naomistudy.ca.

ROBERT SHARPE, MPA, Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Washington, D.C.