Daylife/AP Photo by Anja Niedringhaus

A pioneering Swiss program to give addicts government-authorized heroin was overwhelmingly approved Sunday by voters who simultaneously rejected the decriminalization of marijuana.

Sixty-eight percent of voters approved making the heroin program permanent. It has been credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts since it began 14 years ago.

Only 36.8 percent of voters favored the marijuana intitiative…

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 system of direct democracy.

Neither vote surprised me. Still an advance over policies that only benefit moralists and gangsters.




  1. Sinn Fein says:

    Next stop for the screwball Swiss, legalized, state-administered euthanasia to truly ease the pain of all those poor, hapless, heroin addicts…that they’ve now fully enabled. How humane of them.

    The Swiss need to stick to making cheese and watches and maintaining those useful secret bank accounts for all of our US Corporate Criminals.

  2. Dallas says:

    Agreed. These are bold, yet controversial measures taken to address the problem.

    Don’t leave it to conservative pinheads for answers to real world problems. What cokes out of their mouth is always the same :

    (1) Hold hands and pray for it to go away
    (2) Can’t do that solution, cuz it’s unholy

  3. Sea Lawyer says:

    My only objection, if I were Swiss, is the government paying to provide the drug to those who can’t pay for it themselves (or through their “health” insurance as the article mentions). But, do you use public tax money to provide for somebody’s substance addiction, or do you spend the money incarcerating them? Too bad you can’t just give them a lethal dose and wash your hands of it for good.

  4. Ron Larson says:

    What is wrong with locking a heroin addict in a prison cell for 6 months of cold turkey detox? It may hurt like hell, but it won’t kill them.

    I’m not talking pound-me-in-the-ass criminal prison. But a special detox prison for addicts. No alcohol, tobacco, drugs. No anything for 6 months while the poisons work them selves out.

    Giving these addicts govt’ supplied drugs doesn’t fix the underlying problem of breaking the addiction. It just takes the criminal element out of it. Doing 6 months of detox prison will do both.

  5. Sea Lawyer says:

    #5, Progress is great, just so long as it’s your version of it.

  6. sargasso says:

    Switzerland harbored addicts from throughout Europe which resulted in a large scale illegal hard drug distribution infrastructure, vested deeply in the social middle classes. This new thing, far from an abrogation of social justice, permits incurable addicts to become lawful and respectable members of Swiss society. It is a very, Swiss solution.

  7. Mister Mustard says:

    #5 – ‘dro

    >>Life’s so much better now than it was in the
    >>past, right?

    I would be, if wingnuts like you didn’t gum up the works.

  8. Mr. Fusion says:

    #4, Ron,

    Good idea. Only when someone is arrested they usually get tossed into the general population along with all the drunks, gangbangers, and meth heads.

    Heroin withdrawal can be fatal.

    Attempting heroin detoxification without professional assistance is not only dangerous, but sometimes deadly. Heroin withdrawal can cause serious physical and emotional trauma including: stroke, heart attack and even death.

    If any addict could receive prompt medical attention for their addiction when they arrested, it would go a long way to helping them. And yes, I see your idea being far cheaper and more cost effective than traditional prison.

    The cure for addiction shouldn’t stop there though. They should be monitored for abuse and receive counseling long after release.

  9. the answer says:

    Switzerland is going to be a much richer country. At least it’s people who decide to sell the H out will be.

  10. Sinn Fein says:

    The Swiss think (wink wink nod nod) that they’re being humane and kind with this easy line of “treatment” when they’re actually perpetuating the Hell in these people’s lives…and helping that EVIL spread throughout the EU. Truth is, the addicts will over time, eventually euthanize themselves (they can’t help it, they’re freaking ADDICTS), problem solved.

    Yes, a VERY, almost TOO, Swiss of a solution.

  11. Ron Larson says:

    Another thought….

    What is to stop someone from pretending to be an addict, getting some nice, safe, government issue heroin, and then going to another country and selling it for a nice profit? It would be an easy way for a Swiss citizen to pay for a warm holiday in Greece.

    I don’t think Switzerland can prevent their citizens from leaving.

    This makes about as much sense as gov’t subsidized gasoline in a country with porous borders (e.g.: Venezuela, Iran, Egypt). All it does it create a black market opportunity for criminals to exploit.

  12. Dallas says:

    #12 To extract heroin out of someone’s bloodstream, reprocess it, etc is quite the trouble.

    You are why conservatives should not be allowed to get involved in problem solving.

  13. grog says:

    #12 …because there is no black market now

    good grief.

    best advice i ever heard “find out what sucks. don’t do that”

    if you believe that the current policies which have remained largely unchanged for many decades have had any dampening effect on the heroin trade, well, you’d be wrong. but hey keep doing that, maybe you’ll get a different outcome. or not.

  14. Sea Lawyer says:

    #13, I agree. The Liberal tendency to create new problems while “solving” the old ones is much preferred to the alternative.

  15. Mister Mustard says:

    #12 – Mr. Larson

    >>What is to stop someone from pretending to be
    >>an addict, getting some nice, safe,
    >>government issue heroin, and then going to
    >>another country and selling it for a nice
    >>profit?

    RTFA

    Under careful supervision, they inject doses carefully measured to satisfy their cravings but not enough to cause a big high.“.

  16. Ron Larson says:

    #13… you are right. I didn’t consider that they had to go to a clinic to get their dose administered by medical staff. That also solves another problem.. addicts won’t want to leave Switzerland, or their neighborhood, lest they be too far away from their fix. How “productive” can a citizen be when they are tethered to their local clinic for a visit a few times a day?

  17. Paddy-O says:

    On another note, Holland is going to outlaw “Magic mushrooms”. Apparently this experiment has resulted in too many health problems…

  18. Stephanie says:

    Too liberal for my blood. This is coming from someone who works in the mental health/drug addiction field. Long overdue is some common sense not to shoot shit up into your veins.

  19. Mister Mustard says:

    #17 – Mr. Larson

    >>How “productive” can a citizen be when they
    >>are tethered to their local clinic for a
    >>visit a few times a day?

    Hey, life’s a bitch when you’re a heroin addict, I guess. And I imagine that they’re at LEAST as productive as they were when they were breaking into cars to steal shit to get their fix and then lying in a Dumpster(R) somewhere for 6 hours, zonked out.

    Maybe the annoyance of being tethered to their local clinic will inspire some of them to seek treatment and slip the surly bonds of their addiction.

    Whatever, it’s better than the alternative.

  20. Mister Mustard says:

    #19 – Steph

    >>Long overdue is some common sense not to
    >>shoot shit up into your veins.

    I’ll bet that works great in the mental health/ drug addiction field, eh? “Hey! You! Get some common sense and stop shooting shit up into your veins“.

    You must be the Bill W. of opiate abuse, with a program like that!

  21. Paddy-O says:

    # 19 Stephanie said, “Too liberal for my blood. This is coming from someone who works in the mental health/drug addiction field.”

    Pretty funny statement from someone who works in a field that pumps mind altering drugs into kids “veins”…

  22. Cursor_ says:

    Well I see a big need for Poppy farmers now.

    Cursor_

  23. Jess Hurchist says:

    If conservative economics is right the best way to destroy a market is for the government to take over.
    Sounds like that’s what the Swiss government is doing.
    I approve, keeping drugs illegal only puts money into the hands of organised crime and organised anti drugs programs.

  24. hhopper says:

    #22 – Paddy said, “Pretty funny statement from someone who works in a field that pumps mind altering drugs into kids ‘veins’…”

    Man, if that’s not trolling, I don’t know what is.

  25. Paddy-O says:

    # 25 hhopper said, “Man, if that’s not trolling, I don’t know what is.”

    Glad I could help. 😉

    Though, I think talking about drugging people on a thread about people taking drugs works…

  26. Alex says:

    To #4 and #9 (Ron and Fusion):

    It’s not a bad idea – on paper. The problem is that addiction is more than just a biological thing. Six months might be enough to get the poison out of their system, but it’s not enough to get it out of their minds. You’ll need programs and counseling and treatment and medication and… most importantly, the full and willing cooperation of the individual targeted. Most drug treatment isn’t effective until a person has hit their “bottom” – that point in their lives where they can no longer stand to live with themselves. For many addicts, that point is well beyond their mortal tolerance – and so you end up with drug related deaths, either from overdosing or just plain bodies giving out.

    You can’t force someone into treatment. All they’ll be thinking about is that six month gap where they can take their next hit. That’s why prisoners who go to jail for years for drug offenses – even though they’ve received detox, received counseling, received treatment – slip back into the habit the moment they’re out of jail. That amount of time they spend in prison or in detox is simply a blank period for them. Talk to any addict that’s been through it, they’ll tell you.

  27. Atropa says:

    I voted yes without hesitation.
    Posted in Politics, crime.
    Aww.

  28. bobbo says:

    Silly little “anti-Freedom” puritans==all of you. Whats wrong with being drug addicted as long as that is your choice and you function rationally otherwise? Whats at play here is very much a conservative/morality based desire to exclude variability and other people making different decisions.

    I wondered why keeping MJ illegal made any sense and the article saying “to prevent MJ tourism” makes sense, but is still short sighted on various levels. Besides, last time I was there, everyone knew which “tea shops” sold a dozen varieties of MJ right out in the open.

    Its mathematically, logically, and morally simple===add up the harm caused by keeping drugs illegal, subtract the harm caused by making them illegal===enjoy the net freedom, reduced crime, and increased tax revenues.

    Stoopid Hoomans.

  29. ECA says:

    Lets see…
    Legalize it..
    Process it so its CLEAN and not cut..
    regulate it…
    SELL at a small profit..
    DROPS the street price in the DIRT..
    DEALERS cant make money..and STOP DEALING.
    Others from INSIDE EUROPE, go to SWEDEN.. for drugs..
    PAY cash..
    MORE STATE PROFIT..
    LESS Taxes…
    Less CRIME…
    REGULATED, UNCUT, drug, and you can watch and CONTROL, how much each person gets..

    WOW, this might work.

  30. Atropa says:

    They did the same thing, in Sweden?


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