Switzerland was one of the first countries to dispense heroin to addicts on a trial basis and now the future of this therapy is in the hands of voters. As the trial period comes to end, psychiatrist Christoph Bürki - who has worked for 14 years in the Bern heroin-dispensing centre (Koda) and is now the senior doctor there - gives swissinfo his perspective on the practice. The temporary legal provisions that allow this form of therapy are set to become enshrined in a revised drug law, along with the decriminalisation of cannabis use.Although the new drug policy has cleared parliamentary hurdles, voters must now approve it in a referendum on Sunday. Opponents of the new law have campaigned strongly against these two elements
As the trial period comes to end, psychiatrist Christoph Bürki - who has worked for 14 years in the Bern heroin-dispensing centre (Koda) and is now the senior doctor there - gives swissinfo his perspective on the practice.
The temporary legal provisions that allow this form of therapy are set to become enshrined in a revised drug law, along with the decriminalisation of cannabis use.
Although the new drug policy has cleared parliamentary hurdles, voters must now approve it in a referendum on Sunday. Opponents of the new law have campaigned strongly against these two elements
GENEVA -- Dr. Daniele Zullino keeps glass bottles full of white powder in a safe in a locked room of his office. Patients show up each day to receive their treatment in small doses handed through a small window. Then they gather around a table to shoot up, part of a pioneering Swiss program to curb drug abuse by providing addicts a clean, safe place to take heroin produced by a government-approved laboratory. The program has been criticized by the United States and the U.N. narcotics board, which said it would fuel drug abuse. But governments as far away as Australia are beginning or considering their own programs modeled on the system, which is credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts. Swiss voters are expected to make the system permanent Sunday in a referendum prompted by a challenge from conservatives.
GENEVA -- Dr. Daniele Zullino keeps glass bottles full of white powder in a safe in a locked room of his office.
Patients show up each day to receive their treatment in small doses handed through a small window.
Then they gather around a table to shoot up, part of a pioneering Swiss program to curb drug abuse by providing addicts a clean, safe place to take heroin produced by a government-approved laboratory.
The program has been criticized by the United States and the U.N. narcotics board, which said it would fuel drug abuse. But governments as far away as Australia are beginning or considering their own programs modeled on the system, which is credited with reducing crime and improving the health and daily lives of addicts.
Swiss voters are expected to make the system permanent Sunday in a referendum prompted by a challenge from conservatives.
the complete opposite of the gateway bullshit. ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
