Posted on 06/03/2006 12:37:09 PM PDT by Know your rights
Switzerland's policy of offering heroin addicts substitution treatment with methadone or buprenorphine has led to a decline in the number of new heroin users in Zurich, according to a paper published in this week's issue of The Lancet.
Switzerland has implemented various policies to try and reduce harm to dependent heroin users, including needle-exchange services, low-threshold methadone programmes, and heroin-assisted treatments. However, critics say that these policies may lead to a growing number of new drug users and lengthen the period of heroin addiction.
To investigate, Carlos Nordt and Rudolf Stohler from the Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland analysed data from over 7250 patients in Zurich who presented for substitution treatments with methadone or buprenorphine over 13 years from 1991. From this data they estimated trends in the number of new heroin users. They found that the incidence of heroin use dropped from 850 new users in 1990 to 150 in 2002. The authors contrast the situation with heroin use in the UK, Italy, and Australia, which has continued to rise. They also found a low cessation (quit) rate and therefore, the overall number of heroin dependents, whether in treatment or not, only declined by 4% per year.
Dr Nordt states: "As the Swiss population supported this drug policy, this medicalisation of opiate dependence changed the image of heroin use as a rebellious act to an illness that needs therapy. Finally, heroin seems to have become a 'loser drug', with its attractiveness fading for young people. Nevertheless, whether drug policy had a positive effect on the number of new heroin users or not, our data could not confirm an increase of heroin incidence as expected by the critics of the liberal Swiss drug policy."
Oh, you're being too harsh. They're balanced -- the media also publishes studies that show how ineffective conservative policies are.
Excellent point!
Decriminalized (still illegal, but treated as a misdemeanor for X number of plants or less) or legalized and regulated (legal growing limited to X number of plants by those 21 and over)?
Square brackets are used to enclose explanatory or missing […] material, especially in quoted text.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't consider myself a libertarian ... nor do I "support" the Swiss program (although I do regard it as less objectionable than drug criminalization).
So do you have an example of a libertarian who supports Switzerland's heroin maintenance program?
For me, freedom = freedom to choose or not choose drugs, junk food, skydiving, and other self-risking non-rights-violating acts (as well, of course, as all non-self-risking non-rights-violating acts).
Get it yet?
I wasn't aware that I had prevented him.
Yes, I always got the fact you love drugs and seem to lean heavily toward anarchy.
The drugs and other things you want to do cross the line in encroaching on your neighbors rights, safty and freedoms.
So unless you move to that island where the consequences of your actions don't hurt others, you aren't going to get to live your dream of all the various vices and so forth.
I don't want to do drugs; stop telling that lie.
cross the line in encroaching on your neighbors rights, safty and freedoms.
How does drug use encroach on anyone's rights, safety and freedoms? How does it do so more than use of the drug alcohol, whose banning you have consistently refused to support?
If you don't want to do them, why push them so hard on others and post so many drug posts? About 490/500 are all pro drug posts.
It's like you talking about the advocating men wearing panties all day long while then saying you never wear them, but spending hours each weak posting how great that is... makes no sense.
Great drug activist line and every junky reading it would agree with you.
I don't push them on others; stop telling that lie.
and post so many drug posts?
Already answered: "I don't know of any other subject where freedom is so vigorously argued against on FR."
spending hours each weak posting how great that is
I've never posted that drugs are great.
Great drug activist line and every junky reading it would agree with you.
That doesn't answer the question. Do you have an answer?
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