Word: heroinism
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Every day is a happy one for Claudia Heun. The 38-year-old Zurich resident knows that, rain or shine, she will get her daily dose of heroin without having to roam the city's seedy neighborhoods in search of the drug. But an upcoming referendum could radically change her life and that of the some 1300 other Swiss addicts who have been getting their fixes legally for years...
...Switzerland's heroin-assisted treatment program (HAT), launched in 1994, doles out pure, industrially produced heroin under medical supervision in 21 clinics and two prisons. "This has made such a positive difference in my life," says Heun, who scored hits on Zurich's once-notorious open drug scene before being admitted into the government-run program in 1995. though she's proven unable to kick addiction through conventional rehab, she has since been able to hold a job, and feels "mentally stronger...
...experiment was borne out of the closing, in the early 1990s, of Zurich's infamous Letten "needle park," where thousands of addicts from across Europe gathered to shoot heroin on garbage-strewn railway tracks. "We wanted to offer a program to reach out to these people," says Dr. Adrian Kormann, medical director of a Zurich HAT clinic where Heun is treated. "And we knew that an approach based only on repression doesn't work...
...Instead, Swiss government convened expert scientific and ethical advisory bodies that devised a liberal alternative to "zero-tolerance" drug policies practiced elsewhere, focusing on prevention, harm reduction, and therapy. Switzerland's stance of giving the most severely dependent addicts not only heroin, but also counseling and medical treatment, has since spawned similar programs in Great Britain and the Netherlands. A handful of other countries are considering implementing this strategy as well...
...Though polls show 63% of voters favor the HAT law, it remains controversial for many. Drogstop, an organization made up mostly of conservative parties and religious groups, warns that if the law is accepted by the electorate, "government-sanctioned heroin distribution will be extended to cocaine and other drugs." Drogstop also argues that the HAT program, which is bankrolled by insurance companies, contributes to exorbitant health and social costs...