Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Swiss machines that once sold cigarettes now sell government-subsidized syringes. When
it comes to needles in Switzerland, no one shares.
When addicts aren't nervous about where they'll get their next fix, consumption goes
down (as do overdoses). When demand on the streets goes down, so does the price. This
brings down street violence…and is bad news for a pusher's bottom line. With clean
needles and a source providing reliable purity, potency, and quantity, maintaining the ad-
diction becomes less dangerous. With these provisions, you still have an addict—but you
remove crime, violence, money, and disease from the equation, so you can treat it for what
it is: a health problem for mixed-up people who are screwing up their lives and need help.
As Swiss addicts are safely dosed to maintenance levels, they begin to reclaim their lives,
get jobs, pay taxes, and—in many cases—kick their habit altogether. Switzerland's heroin-
maintenance centers (now also in Germany and the Netherlands) succeed in reducing the
harm caused by drug abuse.
While heroin-maintenance programs have been relatively successful, Europeans have
tried and failed with other programs. For instance, experimental “needle parks” (places
where the hard drug-taking community could gather) ended up attracting junkies and cre-
ating a public nuisance. These were abandoned for the more low-key maintenance centers.
