SWISS HEROIN-ASSISTED TREATMENT 1994- 2016: SUMMARY

[Warren Stupidity]

SWISS HEROIN-ASSISTED TREATMENT 1994- 2016: SUMMARY

Overview: Due to the severe drug problem in Switzerland in the early 1990s, (rising number of injection drug users, visibility of open drug scenes, AIDS epidemic, rising number of drug related deaths, poor physical health, high criminality) the Swiss made a fundamental shift in approaching the problems caused by heroin addiction. The Swiss offer treatment-on-demand. Of an estimated 22-24,000 addicts (dropping 4% per year) 16,500 are in treatment and 92% are given daily doses of primarily methadone at conventional clinics. The Swiss treat about 1300 addicts with maintenance doses of heroin via 23 special clinics operating in cities and two prisons.

The Swiss approach has resulted in lower rates of crime, death, disease, a slight drop in expected new users as well as an improvement in mental and physical health, employment and housing. The program has been adopted by three countries: Germany, Belgium and Denmark. Four countries are running trials = Holland, England, Spain and Canada.

*Crime Issues: 60% drop in felony crimes by patients (80% drop after one year in the program). 82% drop in patients selling heroin.

*Death Rates: No one has died from a heroin overdose since the inception of the program. The heroin used is inspected for purity and strength by technicians.

*Disease Rates: New infections of Hepatitis and HIV have been reduced for patients in the program.

*New Use Rates: Slightly lower than expected. 1) As reported in the Lancet June 3, 2006, the medicalisation of using heroin has tarnished the image of heroin and made it unattractive to young people. 2) Most new users are introduced to heroin by members of their social group and 50% of users also deal to support their habit. Therefore, with so many users/sellers in treatment, non-users have fewer opportunities to be exposed to heroin, especially in the rural areas.

*Cost Issues: 48 dollars/day: Patient costs are covered by national health insurance agency. Patients pay 700 dollars/year for the compulsory insurance. Note: The Swiss save about 38 dollars per day per patient mostly in lowered costs for court and police time, due to less crime committed by the patients.

*In December 2008 the Swiss voted (68%-32%) to make the program part of their body of laws.
http://www.citizensopposingprohibition.org/resources/swiss-heroin-assisted-treatment-1994-2009-summary/

We won't even consider this approach.

[Warren DeMontague]

1. We'd rather incarcerate addicts and let them die on the floor of a jail cell

because morals.

http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2016/04/dying_alone_a_jail_inmates_hea.html

[ananda]

2. This is what the prison and criminal justice system wants.

Ka-ching

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. Those systems cost us citizens big bucks!

Rehab for addicts, like methadone clinics, are more humane and affordable. The question becomes; do we want those systems Ka-chinging our cash?

[Dustlawyer]

12. If it's good enough for the mentally ill, it's good enough for addicts!

Sarcasm!

[malaise]

3. There's a big problem

Last edited Sun Apr 17, 2016, 07:45 PM - Edit history (1)

Societies take care of their citizens - the US is a market with consumers not a society. The neo-liberals and their tools take care of none but themselves. I'm sure there are lovely private facilities for the heroin users among the 1%.

[Enthusiast]

19. Precisely.

[malaise]

21. I will never forget George Bush's response to 9/11

Go shopping

[Enthusiast]

23. Dubya true believers probably used their credit cards to excess that day.

[SalviaBlue]

24. Very well put!

[Warpy]

4. They had the same pilot program in the UK for 10 years

wherein hard core addicts registered and got a steady dose of their drug of choice, usually heroin. They had the same drop in street crime and found something else: at the end of that 10 years, 50% of the addicts had weaned themselves off the drug. That's a better success rate than any rehab program has ever seen.

You want to see less street crime, break up criminal gangs worldwide, and keep people healthy so they can live long enough to get off the drugs on their own, STOP THE FUCKING DRUG WAR. It didn't work. It will never work, unless you're marking its success on the number of civil rights that have been abolished.

[malaise]

22. But that would kill

the profits. Never forget money trumps peace - forget which war - drugs, Iraq, women - follow the money.

[Heidi]

6. Kick!

[99th_Monkey]

7. KnR

[zeemike]

8. As long as prison is a profitable industry nothing will change

At least for the better.
In our system when an industry gets big enough it must continue to grow every year...it is what the stock holders want.

[Brickbat]

9. BECAUSE PEOPLE WOULD BE GETTING HEROIN FOR FREE.

When people get something for free that I don't get, the country will collapse.

[Heidi]

27. It isn't free by any means.

Last edited Mon Apr 18, 2016, 08:07 AM - Edit history (1)

We residents of Switzerland pay for our health insurance.

Hi, brickbat! Good to see you!

[Brickbat]

28. Hello, hello! Good to see you too!

And yeah, "free heroin" isn't really free. I was just channeling what some objectors would say to a program such as this.

[JackRiddler]

10. We will consider this approach!

At some point.

Goddamn, I did not think that marijuana would still be widely illegal today, did you? Some things are so damn slow in this country.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Easy to take the crime out of drug use, which makes it health problem, if it is even a problem

Heroin addiction is a health problem, but not as bad as many think.

Cannabis usage is hardly a health problem and on balance, on net, a health benefit as an average. Less crime such as domestic violence, fewer accidents than alcohol DUI, much less liver damage / diabetes.

The key is to take the crime out by legalization (cannabis) or free access (heroin treatment).

[Warren DeMontague]

14. I think you're right. I favor a harm reduction approach to things like heroin.

But if the ONLY choices are full legalization of everything or the draconian, authoritarian clusterfuck we have now, I'll go with the former.

[brett_jv]

15. 90% of the cost to SOCIETY of heroin usage is directly attributable to it's illegality

And pretty close to that same % for the individual users themselves.

With pure, (very cheap or free) heroin, clean needles, and users properly educated on use, the stuff is damn near harmless to the body. Think I'm kidding? Look it up. It's remarkable non-toxic stuff, it's basically synthetic endorphins ... your body is laced with receptors for the stuff because of how similar it is to our own natural 'feel good' system.

Yeah, it's a wicked addiction, tough to kick and withdrawals are super-sucky to go through ... but it won't kill you anytime soon if administered properly and hygenically.

Really, the most dangerous part of a program like they're discussing is the risk of an infection at an injection site. Users need to switch sites frequently, and the dope needs to be strong enough that they're not lancing their skin 10 times in a day to keep from getting sick.

Users who are properly 'set up' can easily work and absolutely be functioning members of society. They just can't 'run out of dope', and they'll be fine, for years and years.

Honestly i think a better approach would be to give them something like Opana (oxymorphone) or Dilaudid (hydromorphone) as they are very close to Heroin in effect even when taken orally that way you remove the one serious danger ... the shooting up. In fact many H users prefer dilaudid, though I think they have a way of shooting the pills or something ... maybe some get it in an IV form though I'd think only hospitals would have that ... I dunno the details but I remember Drugstore Cowboy

[Bernardo de La Paz]

25. Yup, and Drugstore Cowboy is a great little film, underrated. . . nt

[Warren DeMontague]

13. Heroin? We have people here who are still trying to outlaw videos of consenting adults having sex.

Unfortunately the puritanism is pretty fucking deeply ingrained.

[Enthusiast]

20. The puritans are fearful that someone would get pleasure from heroin.

[SHRED]

16. compassionate and effective

Thus the USA will never do it.

Please excuse my cynicism.
We should do it though.

[ms liberty]

17. K&R...n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

18. Private for profit prisons....USA! USA! USA!

[Sienna86]

26. We are so behind....

We just do what we can to modernize our society.