-Caveat Lector-
>From http://www.guardian.co.uk/drugs/Story/0,2763,666802,00.html
}}}>Begin
Dutch back free heroin for addicts
Andrew Osborn
Thursday March 14, 2002
The Guardian
The Netherlands took a highly controversial step towards liberalising already lax drug
laws yesterday when the government came out in favour of giving free heroin to
addicts.
Encouraged by five-year trials on addicts in six of the country's largest cities, the
government formally asked parliament to endorse proposals to hand out heroin, in
combination with methadone, to addicts deemed "beyond help".
The plans have caused disquiet among some sections of society, where sceptics feel
that heroin addicts will receive better "treatment" than many people who suffer from
problems that are not self- inflicted.
One media source said: "Some people have made the point that patients suffering
from cancer cannot access the necessary expensive treatment but that drug addicts
will be able to get free heroin and many believe that it isn't fair."
A year's supply of heroin for one person would cost the Dutch government �9,350 -
about �25 per day. There are about 25,000 addicts in the Netherlands, but only 2,000
of these are thought to be hardcore addicts.
The health minister, Els Borst, said that the cost of feeding addicts' habits will be
offset by savings on medical treatment, prison space and law enforcement.
And she stressed that they will need to meet strict criteria before they can use the
scheme, which is expected to begin this year once it gets parliament's backing.
Under the pilot schemes - set up in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague, Utrecht,
Groningen and Heerlen - the conditions for taking part are stringent. Participants,
who must be aged at least 25, are required to have been addicts for five years and to
have tried a methadone programme. Their life expectancy must be less than one
year.
The nationwide programme will not be quite so strict, according to the health
ministry. But it will be for hardcore addicts only.
"We are talking about the really hopeless cases here," a spokeswoman from the
health ministry said yesterday. "This is the last resort."
If parliament approves the scheme, the Netherlands will once again lead EU nations
when it comes to liberal drugs laws.
The move, which comes three years after Switzerland began handing out heroin to
addicts, could trigger a wave of similar initiatives in Europe.
Special report
Drugs in Britain
Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002
End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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