Heroin Drug Trial - Switzerland

Sep 1997
A feature on the novel Swiss plan to help drug addicts recover.

Evelyn is a heroin addict. Since the age of 18 she's been caught in a downward spiral of unemployment, crime and prostitution. She's also one of a thousand users attending a clinic several times a day for a cheap, legal hit of heroin. Watching Evelyn 'shoot up' in the clean, controlled environment of the clinic is far removed from the squalid scenes of addiction in a Zurich park. She's even able to work as a waitress. But not all Swiss are impressed by the heroin trial. The referendum to halt it came from right-wing religious groups who label their government a drug pusher. Boris Piske once fed his drug habit as a male prostitute. Now married with two children, it was God and abstinence in a religious community which helped him quit. Meanwhile, on a drug bust in a downtown flat with the Zurich, Switzerland drug squad it's clear illegal drugs are still in plentiful supply. Police say driving addicts underground will merely worsen the problem. So far the Swiss trial has shown that the heroin clinic does work. Ninety addicts have already withdrawn. The government is considering extending the trial.

Produced by ABC Australia
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Switzerland
• Drugs
• addiction
• treatment
• heroin
• Europe
• Clinic
• legalize
• Journeyman
• Pictures
• news
• documentary
• current affairs
• journeyman
• journeyman pictures

[saddamdontsurf]

You can wrap an electric chair in puffy pillows and hello kitty blankets but its still an electric chair . Treatment should always be available for the addict but this is not treatment . This is government sanctioned genocide . If addicts dont get clean , they die . God help em .

[danielsgirl0nLy]

the greatest treatment i've heard of yet!! Atl least it allows these people to lead normal productive lives and to stay off the streets, and most of all cuts down on death due to overdose and the spread of disease. I think we need something like this in the states!!

[JJTheBigDog]

Scheiss Junkies sollen doch von mir aus abkratzen. Das Geld is so oder so verloren, entweder als Steurgeld oder man wird beklaut.

[blumentopfregenbogen]

So as long as you don't find a system as effective, cheap, and human, don't bash something you don't understand!

[blumentopfregenbogen]

For those who don't think that it works, well I've experienced more than one drug user, who actually managed to finish an apprenticeship or even to study on prescribed heroin. Because of the heroin, they manage to do a job like everybody else does. If they're strong enough to withdraw after a while, that's great. But sometimes they're more stable and lead a more "normal" life when they keep on with the prescribed heroin.

[blumentopfregenbogen]

Effective in a financial way (a drug addict in a program costs a lot less than one on the streets) and in humanitarian way. Sure, if you succeed in withdrawing and staying abstinent, great! Best thing you can do! Unfortunately only the smallest percentage of heroin users can achieve this in a long term. Heroin treatment allows people to re-think their lives, to get a job, to do things well! In these cases, Heroin becomes more of a medicament which allows people to act in a fairly normal way.

[blumentopfregenbogen]

Well, I actually have been working in this heavily discussed clinic in Bern for more then a year now. I've met and talk to our clients, the heroin users, learned a lot about the dynamics of addiction and about ways to deal with it. And I have to say, to all of you who object heroin treatment, that in all this time, that heroin addiction exists, the state controlled distribution has proved itself as the most effective treatment so far.

[feonor26]

What an inhumane douchebag that Boris guy is. As an ex-addict he of all people should be for this programme. Just because he got lucky and managed to get out of it without the programme, not everyone is that lucky. I've never done these drugs and never will, but I'm all for this.

[MegaTriumph1]

The Swiss Demonic. Money=Demonic. Check it out yourselfs.

[jarrettpeter37]

Your vid is popular on Tunisia