Swiss To Give Addicts Free Heroin Even As They Keep Marijuana Illegal

• December 1, 2008

This doesn’t make any sense. In terms of social impact, marijuana is a lot less detrimental than heroin. Yet in Switzerland if you become a heroin addict you’ll have your addiction subsidized by the government. But if you smoke a joint, you’re going to jail apparently.
The article credits the heroin entitlement program with getting large groups of heroin users out of the public’s eye (they had apparently taken to gathering in large groups and shooting up openly in parks and such), but doesn’t that seem a bit like sweeping the problem under the rug? Can you really call it a success when you “solve” your problem with heroin addicts by moving them out of the public eye and keeping them full of government-provided drugs?
That’s just not a solution I can get behind. But that a society could approve such a solution, but then turn around and keep marijuana illegal, is just baffling to me. Free drugs for one group of drug users, but jail for another?

Tags: Uncategorized

http://Array RebTex

THe provided dope should trigger a “Logan’s RUN” episode & eventually consume the user.
http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml Angry Vertebrate

From the article:
…and also receive counseling from psychiatrists and social workers.

The aim is to help the addicts learn how to function in society.
Kenny, you’re wrong again. Rehab is a more general term than the lock-down that rockstars and Hollywood celebs periodically go through.
http://insanereindeer.blogspot.com/ Kenny

Prove that weed is illegal in Switzerland.

Second sentence in the article:

At the same time, voters rejected a proposal to decriminalize marijuana.

Epic fail. It was in the link provided.

You suck at life.
robert108

Sparkie: If you think this is such a great idea, why not show us the way, and do it yourself? Invite some junkies over to your house for free smack. See how that works for you.
robert108

The real alternative is vigilante justice, when the govt abdicates what the people pay it to do.
The more addictive a drug is, the more stupid and destructive its use is.
robert108

The goal is to help them, It doesn’t “help” heroin addicts to facilitate and subsidize their addiction. It only helps the govt parasites take more money from the achievers. not simply hide them from the public as Rob claims. The article says that; it’s not a “claim”.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/homosexuality_is_wrong_-_a_compendium move_zig

Di,

I would agree with you, and I guess Lik too, had you asked me a couple years ago.

I dunno, I’ve seen drugs destroy lives. It never stays relegated to the druggie. The destruction radiates outwards affecting the lives of loved ones who agonize over the slo-mo death of their daughter, son, uncle, niece, what-have-you, and seem helpless to get through the drug-induced fog.

Heck, we just cremated a girl I long had a crush on. They found her dead with a needle jammed in her arm.

Then there is always the crime victims of those jacked by druggies intent on getting money for their next hit.

And for the females and the Dino-types, the diseases they contract while selling themselves and in turn, infect others.

I dunno. I see nothing good coming out of drug use, as much as I despise the damage done to the Constitution in the name of the War on Drugs.

It’s a tough call, but after learning what I have over the past few years, I’ll come down on the side of punishment / treatment.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/entry/homosexuality_is_wrong_-_a_compendium move_zig

Why hijack the regular citizens’ bucks — or in this case — Schwieessch fronks (as they say) to enable some druggies’ habit?

That makes no sense, unless you want to create a permanent and growing parasite druggie class.

We already have too many Dinos, AVs, Snarkies and RBBs as it is. If you feed them, there will only be more.

You have to punish f’d-up behavior and make the wrongdoer feel the pain, as a disincentive to the wrongdoer and as an example / deterrent who might be tempted to follow suit.

While I advocate a way up and out of the lifestyle, it should be tough love, with a big stick to make the carrot more appealing. Remember, these dysfunctional types got into their predicament through bad decision-making.

Duh.
robert108

When we retreat, they advance. Moral relativism=moral decay.
http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

The real alternative is vigilante justice…

Gluttony is a personal demon and I want no part in denying a stranger’s. It is out of my hands and none of my business.
robert108

It is out of my hands and none of my business.

Not when they steal your money to support their habit, either directly, or indirectly through the govt.
robert108

…but I just don’t think we will ever be able to reverse the tide.

When we retreat, they advance. There is no upside to pessimism.
di butler

Move_Zig,

I used to have the exact opposite position I do now. I think I just came to the conclusion I have after I went through what I did. Don’t get me wrong, it’s horrible, mostly on the loved ones who have to watch people destroying themselves. Like Food addicts, Alcoholics, etc. I don’t like what drugs do to our society, but I just don’t think we will ever be able to reverse the tide. It’s a sad part of our world.
robert108

If they don’t want help, nothing is going to help.

That’s why it’s a criminal act, not just a “mistake”. If you depend on the integrity of addicts to self-regulate, you are living in a fool’s paradise. Addicts only want one thing: the next fix. They don’t make long range plans, and care for nothing except the next fix. You don’t facilitate and subsidize them, you imprison them until they decide to clean up. The only thing that will stop addiction is to cut off the supply. Giving their addiction social approval(legalization) is moving in the wrong direction, and it sends the wrong message to impressionable children.
http://insanereindeer.blogspot.com/ Kenny

Bottom line is that programs like these cause property crime to go down approx 80% or so. That benefits all members of society, from those being robbed, to those being booked for robbery, to those who work in the legal system and must expend energies on rebooking the same offenders repeatedly.

It’s little different from theft. You’re taking money from productive members of society to give to junkies so they can get drugs.

At least when the junkie robs me I can defend my property and press charges. When it’s the government, you have no recourse.
robert108

This one has already been on the Reader Blogs, but it’s good to get such bullshit social engineering on the front page.
It’s insane to give away “free” drugs to drug users, no matter what the drug is. They’re not free to the taxpayers, of course. The Swiss did this to deal with the consequences of their permissiveness toward drug use, and are going to the next stage of insanity.
robert108

You deride this as a bad solution, but you
offer nothing better.

Another lie from you; bust the junkies and deny them their dope. That is the only solution, along with educating children that drugs are stupid and destructive, rather than your cowardly appeasement.
When we retreat, they advance.

Bottom line is that programs like these cause property crime to go down approx 80% or so. That benefits all members of society, from those being robbed, to those being booked for robbery, to those who work in the legal system and must expend energies on rebooking the same offenders repeatedly.

More leftie bullshit. All you are doing is turning the problem onto the public, which has to pay for the junk now, and deal with increased drug use and an increasing number of drug users. It’s govt abdicating responsibility.
ellinas

The truth about marijuana in Switzerland:
Most drugs are illegal in Switzerland, but attitudes toward non-addictive drugs are changing. The Federal Surgeon’s office recently declared that they found ecstasy to be rather innocuous, somewhat of a scandal for older Swiss who cannot tell lysergic acid from methamphetamine. Marijuana and its derivatives are enjoying a boom nowadays in Switzerland, due to unclear laws that permit the culture of this robust plant for oil or medical purposes, and tolerate some shops that sell its hemp by-products. From time to time, police will raid growers and shops to remind people that ZÃ¼rich has no intention of becoming Amsterdam–although marijuana may be soon legalized for Swiss residents. More disturbing is the heroin consumption that had found its center at the Spitzplatz just behind ZÃ¼rich’s central station. For years an open market for drugs was tolerated there until a crackdown in 1992. Current issues include the big competition between traditional dealers and the new Kosovo Albanian Mafia that now dominates 95% of the market in some areas. This has driven prices down and consequently reduced the traditional crimes (burglary and mugging) associated with the search for money to finance drug addict needs. Some cantonal governments have tried methadone and needle distribution programs to reduce AIDS and to better monitor addicts. A federal vote in 1999 approved this stance.
http://insanereindeer.blogspot.com/ Kenny

Another key point for the program is that it is combined with rehabilitation too. The goal is to help them, not simply hide them from the public as Rob claims.

That’s not mentioned at all in the story.

In fact it says that they can come in for a fix, and that they’ll get enough to satisfy their craving, but not give them a high.

In rehab programs, the addict is in lockdown. It controls what they get. Obviously, you can’t just take someone off of heroin cold turkey, but likewize, you can’t just give them a hit and send them home.

This program just uses public funds to give these people their fix. The numbers show that the majority of these addicts just stay on for years and years and years, reducing their own costs to get the drug.
http://sayanythingblog.com/ likwidshoe

The free marketplace of ideas should be taking care of this.

The activity a government denies, it also controls. This government action of resurrection is predictable.
robert108

The numbers show that the majority of these addicts just stay on for years and years and years, reducing their own costs to get the drug.

All the while, a govt infrastructure collects paychecks from the taxpayers for facilitating and subsidizing an addiction. Nice scheme!
http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml Angry Vertebrate

With anyone, counseling is only going to help if the client is willing to change. You cannot (and if you value freedom and individuality then you also should not try to) force people to change, but the Swiss govt seems to at least provide them the opportunity to escape their addictions.

I doubt the Swiss are expecting miracles, but hopefully a few heroin addicts make use of this opportunity.
robert108

“Function in society” is leftie code for staying addicted to the govt social engineering scheme, so the govt drones can keep draining the achievers to pay their bloated salaries and budget increases. They can then “cook the books” to make it look like they are accomplishing something, while their schemes are making the problem worse.
The Swiss govt has no interest in actually “helping them escape their addiction” by giving them free heroin and a safe place to shoot up. They are building an ever larger plantation of govt slaves. If the number of addicts ever went down, the govt would cut the budget for this addiction scheme, and no govt worker wants that.
di butler

I’m with Likwidshoe on this one. I think they should just decriminalize the drugs, and make them pay for it themselves. No government handouts. I think it is a personal responsibility. I took personal responsibility for my problem with prescription drugs, and they should have to, too. If they don’t want help, nothing is going to help. They could have a program where they offer help for people wanting off of drugs, as long as they are truly trying, but that’s it. And no, methadone clinics don’t work.
http://magyartruth.blogspot.com/ Chief RZ

Drugs kill.
http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml Angry Vertebrate

Good points Sparkie.

Another key point for the program is that it is combined with rehabilitation too. The goal is to help them, not simply hide them from the public as Rob claims.
di butler

Zig,

Sorry you lost someone you cared about.
robert108

They’ve given up; surrendered to immorality.

Rob: The Swiss became permissive toward heroin use when they decided to regard it as a disease instead of a crime, with predictable results. This latest surrender is just for cosmetic purposes, and does nothing to address the problem.
RebTex

It seems that they don’t really want to stop illicit drug abuse, but control it.
You really have to question why.
http://insanereindeer.blogspot.com/ Kenny

From the article:
…and also receive counseling from psychiatrists and social workers.
The aim is to help the addicts learn how to function in society.
Kenny, you’re wrong again. Rehab is a more general term than the lock-down that rockstars and Hollywood celebs periodically go through.

“Help” is optional under this program.

That a counsiler is offered means nothing.

You don’t get how the real world works….
robert108

When we retreat, they advance. There is no fallback strategy.
Again, it’s not about “controlling” drugs, it’s about eliminating them. They can’t be controlled.
di butler

Robert,

Unfortunately, I am pessimistic about us controlling drugs. I wish we could, but it doesn’t seem possible to stop it now. I don’t want to see people dying from drug addictions, but even after rehab and jail they will go right back to it, if they truly want it. The best way to stop it, would be to keep them from being here at all.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

make em pay for their alcohol and pills. unless they have a ‘back’ problem.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

From the article:
…and also receive counseling from psychiatrists and social workers.

The aim is to help the addicts learn how to function in society.
Kenny, you’re wrong again. Rehab is a more general term than the lock-down that rockstars and Hollywood celebs periodically go through.

For the addict who is willing to do things like have sex with anonymous strangers and inject themselves under toenails and in eyeballs…a little bit of social working is a small price to pay for a fix.

This won’t end well.
http://sayanythingblog.com/readers/author/sparkiearbuckle sayanything-81

Prove that weed is illegal in Switzerland.

When I was there, there was plenty of weed and the locals were allowed to grow it, within a certain limit of plants per person. They also issue commercial licenses to grow weed — a lot of the weed sold in Holland is commercially grown in Switzerland.

Also, about the smack problem. You deride this as a bad solution, but you offer nothing better. None of the ‘plans’ Reagan or anyone else has enacted have worked. Methadone clinics? Are you against those? You solution is to put your head in the sand, which is not a solution, just like the ‘Swiss’ solution. If you want to deride the Swiss, perhaps you should to so from a platform and not hovering in mid air.

Bottom line is that programs like these cause property crime to go down approx 80% or so. That benefits all members of society, from those being robbed, to those being booked for robbery, to those who work in the legal system and must expend energies on rebooking the same offenders repeatedly.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

I don’t think that permissiveness is to blame, but I agree with you that subsidizing drug use is a bad idea.

What’s next? Free cases of beer for alcoholics?
eHudson

The fact that you do not understand this bold and progressive move by the Swiss shows that you do not understand the nature of the problem. This is not about “sweeping the problem under the rug” or getting unsightly drug addicts out of the public eye – it is about reducing drug-related crime, HIV/Hepatitis infections and making contact with a group of addicts that normally would never be seen by health care professionals. There are over 500,000 people incarcerated in the United States right now for drug-related crime. The more money the government spends on the “war on drugs”, the more people are locked up and stay sick. If we have learned anything in North Ameriac about the social problem of drug addiction in the last 25 years, we have learned that locking people up does not solve the problem, in fact it exacerbates the problem. Harm reduction methods are not aimed at eliminating the flow of drugs into a society, the billions and billions of dollars spent on that front has failed miserably. Programs like this are necessary and prescribing heroin is not an end in of itself, it is only the first step in eventually getting these people clean so that they can return to being contributing members of society. The money spent on prescribing heroin is 1/10th the cost of incarcerating someone. This type of program is the future of treating drug addiction, I only wish people in North America could lay aside their stigmas long enough to see that. I speak from personal experience as a recovering drug addict and as a professional treating addicts as an addiction counselor.

http://enigma-cypher.blogspot.com/ Enigma_Cypher

The Swiss government is taking the responsibility for heroin away from the addicts themselves. That is one of the main problems with liberal/progressive mindsets: they try to absolve individuals responsibility for their own actions. The result is always failure. No government can make up for the personal failings of it’s citizens.

The blame lies with the addicts.

Pvsutera

One can hardly call Switzerland a liberal government. This is a cost-saving measure, and a crime saving measure. These people are also able to return to work. While using Heroin. It’s not like being drunk. You have to understand that Heroin withdrawal is just always avoided by the addicts, which creates this horrendous cycle of crime as well as a whole understory of illegal drug dealing. This is not about absolving anything. Most addicts continue to be addicts, some even racking up impressive lifetime Heroin addictions. The end product is actually more people getting off Heroin, something that makes the conservative mind choke on their platitudes that substitute for actual thinking.

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