AP story, complicated situation, we all know how bad heroin is but the US model of using prison as a deterant obviously doesn't work either, this is 100% the other way though.
Thoughts??, amazing in the same election though they were against decriminalized marijuana, strange, got to love democracy

Quoted
"GENEVA — Swiss voters on Sunday appeared to be giving overwhelming support to a pioneering program providing government-authorized heroin to hardened addicts.

Projections based on early voting results Sunday indicated that 69 percent of voters approved making the program permanent. It has been credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts since it began 14 years ago.

The projections were made by the widely respected gfs.bern institute for the state-owned SRG television and radio networks, based on actual voting returns.

But the forecasts showed voters' tolerance was stopping well short of approving a separate proposal to decriminalize marijuana use.

Parliament approved the heroin measure in a revision of Switzerland's narcotics law this past March, but conservatives challenged the decision and forced a national referendum under Switzerland's cherished direct democracy.

The heroin program has helped eliminate scenes of large groups of drug users shooting up openly in parks that marred Swiss cities in the 1980s and 1990s, supporters say.

The United States and the U.N. narcotics board have criticized the program as potentially fueling drug abuse, but other governments have started or are considering their own programs modeled on the system.

The marijuana issue was based on a separate citizens' initiative to decriminalize the consumption of marijuana and growing the plant for personal use. Projections by gfs.bern showed 66 percent of voters rejecting the initiative.

The government, which opposes the marijuana proposal, says it fears that liberalizing the rules could cause problems with neighboring countries.

"This could lead to a situation where you have some sort of cannabis tourism in Switzerland because something that is illegal in the EU would be legal in Switzerland," government spokesman Oswald Sigg told The Associated Press.

The marijuana program is offered in 23 discreet centers across Switzerland, which offer a range of support to nearly 1,300 addicts who haven't been helped by other therapies. Under careful supervision, they inject doses carefully measured to satisfy their cravings but not enough to cause a big high.

The aim is to help the addicts learn how to function in society, with counseling from psychiatrists and social workers.

Dr. Daniele Zullino, who heads the branch in Geneva, said that after two to three years in the program, one-third of the patients start abstinence programs and one-third change to methadone treatment.

Health insurance pays for the bulk of the program, which costs 26 million Swiss francs ($22 million) a year. All residents in Switzerland are required to have health insurance, with the government paying insurance premiums for those who cannot afford it.

Alain Hauert, spokesman for the right-wing Swiss People's Party which has led opposition to the program, says it is wrong that the health insurance pays for it. The party maintains that the government should invest more money in prevention and law enforcement.

Crimes committed by heroin addicts have dropped 60 percent since the program began in 1994, according to the Federal Office of Public Health.

And, Zullino said, patients reduce consumption of other narcotics once they start the heroin program and suffer less from psychiatric disorders."

I think this is a typo, shouldn't it read 'heroin' not 'marijuana'?

I've heard of this scheme, and it's definitely the future. The government supplies the drugs, yes? I say give them as much or as little as they want so they don't need to resort to crime or aggressive begging for cash. Then help them quit when they're ready to. Much better both for them and the taxpayer.

It's a positive step towards ending punishment for drug users. Eventually, all drugs should be legal. Problem drugs could be given freely in programmes like this one alongside treatment programmes if requested. The unaddictive/undangerous ones could be sold through pharmacies (a government monopoly using money earnt to fund treatment of addicts, with no advertising, to keep commerce from sucking people in with their marketing techniques). All unprocessed botanicals could then be sold on the open market (coca etc), as there won't be any danger of people making their own when lab-grade substances are stocked in pharmacies anyway.

I don't fuckin get it why they don't legalize ibogaine and give it to those 1300 addicts. I'd like to see the results of that.

There are so many stories like this: http://video.google.com/...ocid=8892713606137156538

I don't know exactly what they're doing... but I think they should give us decent alternatives to shitty illegal drugs like heroin, cocaine and meth... such as cannabis, mushrooms and Khat.... or whatever.

I do however strongly believe that drugs such as heroin and meth are bad for people and society... but jailing them certainly is not the answer unless they have comminted some violent crime along with their drug offense.

They have an ibogaine therapy house here in vancouver...http://www.ibogatherapyhouse.net/cms/
Not sure who runs it but i know that marc emery started the first one here, but i think had to shut down after he got busted for seeds and had to fight extradition.
Its not advertised at all really around the city, no one had heard of it or ibogaine really, except for dedicated psychonauts.. they do, however have leagl methadone(which the governmet get from pharmaceutical companies..go figure) for heroin addicts. I hear methadone is even more addictive. Makes me wonder if they even really give a shit about the people they are sopposedly "helping"

..plus, the government wont pay for peoples ibogaine treatment.. so they only ones who can offord it are the ones with freinds or relatives willing to pay the $$$ to see their loved one get help..

I would also like to add that cannabis can be a valuable tool for treating addiction, maybe not heroin, but for cocaine for sure. I have witnessed this with my own eyes. I had a very close friend for a while that freebased for years, I met his while he was quitting. He left his GF and his job and basically his whole life behind him, moved into the woods on our local beach(everyone down ther is liek one big family) to get away from the city and its reminders of his addiction. He instead smoked canabis nad his withdrawl he sadi wasnt nearly as bad as without it. He had a few mushroom experiences that summer on the beach, and by the end of the summer he still wasnt using cocaine.. and looked alot healthier

'Coatl wrote:

"I do however strongly believe that drugs such as heroin and meth are bad for people and society... but jailing them certainly is not the answer unless they have comminted some violent crime along with their drug offense."...

Heroin aside from being heavily addictive actually has minimal negative health effects associated with its use in the pure form. Heroin has been made out to be devil by the US drug war. When in reality the problems which society associates with heroin usage are actually the result of prohibition rather than any innate attribute of opiates or opiate addiction. If users had access to clean pure substances overdoses would decline, theft would decline as price would go down and purity up, with higher purity IV use would also likely decline, additionally those who choose to use IV would have access to clean needles and access to honest information regarding sterile and proper Injection methodology this would significantly decrease the spread of disease to addicts and non-addicts alike. Not to mention the crime rates associated with the criminal distribution networks and corrupt cops, judges... This crime is a direct result of prohibition. Jails should once again be used for individuals who harm other members of society like murders, rapists, and thieves.

The reality of the situation is that prohibition creates the majority of the problems it claims to be trying to fight. Yes many drugs are addictive and some have health consequences but so does ethanol, caffeine and nicotine. Other problems such as drug overdoses arise from not knowing what and how much one is taking or combining drugs that shouldn't be combined from lack of knowledge. Theft results from individuals paying high prices for low quality substances, very few nicotine addicts and alcoholics have to steal to support their habits as well as individuals losing their jobs not because of poor performance but because of a metabolite in their urine forcing them into a criminal lifestyle. Additionally with prohibition it is not society who decides what age one can use these things it is Pablo Escobar (the drug dealers). Combine these things with lies, propaganda and lack of a good education and you have the US drug war. While out right legalization should not be the answer the most logical strategy would be that of regulation. As with the current regulation of ethanol the price, purity, availability and consumer age could then be efficiently controlled. I don't know about others but for me it was easier to get illicit drugs when I was underage than it was to get alcohol. Thus regulation will keep drugs at of the hands of younger people more efficiently than prohibition does while decreasing taxes, crime, diseases and overdoses. Combining this with a scientific education policy and treatment for those who want or need it and we will be much better off than we are with prohibition. Additionally with regulation will come societies acceptance of chemically induced states of pleasure. Thus companies can then create pleasure drugs with minimal negative side effects such as addiction and health problems. If the only problems with illicit drugs is the health concerns and not the morals concerns then why is this not being done now. What is wrong with obtaining pleasure from a plant or chemical as opposed to gambling, sex, or sports?
Please don't perpetuate the myth that heroin is the devil. Prohibition has made heroin use very dangerous however this is all the more reason it should be regulated by the government. Heroin usage before prohibition was much safer and many users maintained there usage to a very old age with no overdosage or health affects. Meth certainly has created some issues recently however as stated above new stimulants with a better side effects profile could be created to replace methamphetamine. It is prohibition not drugs that are the true plaque on society.

I am with you pretty much 100% bufoman, I also don't think drugs such as Meth would survive in a world where there was no prohibition. I think Meth is the result of prohibition. In the US it’s the easiest drug to get/make, any idiot can do it. Thus it’s cheap and plentiful, but nasty nasty, if other things were cheap and available no one in there right mind would touch meth.