A junkie-friendly nanny-state. How libertarian.
I agree with you - that is a good thing. Unless you prefer the totalitarian mess that the WOD has brought us. Or do you prefer that noose thing for people who use naughty vegetables?
Switzerland is not a junkie-nannie state. Because drug-addicts do not rapidly succumb to illness (leading to death), they are not involved in pushing drugs onto junior high school children, street prostitution, violent crime and the like, but can hold down steady jobs. These addicts generally pay for their own jobs and do not receive welfare. Hopefully, they will end their abuse of drugs, just as we all hope that those use abuse alcohol and tobacco in this country, but the social problems we all face because of legal drugs are not comparable to those who face from illegal drugs. It is in our country that drug-addicts are a major burden on the taxpayer, not even counting the cost of police and incarceration, but only counting the cost of taxpayer-funded drug maintenance programs, welfare, food stamps, etc., to drug addicts.
Nanny-state & libertarian are mutually exclusive. A truly libertarian country would let the junkies kill themselves, which is ok by me, except that they steal & push their junk on kids to pay for their habit.
The Swiss are simply trying something different, that MIGHT work, or MIGHT NOT. We know for sure that the current WOD is a failure - just look around. Drugs are plentiful in the US & Europe.
Perhaps the Swiss have figured out that the crime & drug dealing is WAY worse than giving the junkies their daily fix. Maybe they figure that if the junkies are not buying on the street, the street dealers will dry up for lack of steady customers. The counseling that accompanies the free fix MIGHT convince some of the junkies to quit - their dealer certainly wont.
If someone needed my help, I would give it. If what I was doing was not helping, but was making things worse, I would TRY SOMETHING ELSE. To continue to do the wrong thing is to become part of the problem.