Pubdate: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON) Copyright: The Hamilton Spectator 2002 Contact: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n508/a08.html?10732 Author: Bruce Symington Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?131 (Heroin Maintenance) EUROPEAN APPROACH WORKS RE: 'Cocaine fuels rise in crime' (March 19). I was interested in the comments attributed to Hamilton police in describing their efforts to get at the root of the city's crime and drug problem. They state that crimes are committed by addicts desperate to pay for their addiction. Therefore, they deduce, law enforcement must go after the drug users. How unfortunate that we stop at that level rather than getting to the root of the problem: prohibition. If there were no prohibition, the price of the legal supply would be reasonable and the addict could afford his/her addiction without resorting to property crime. The British proved that this approach worked when they had a program of heroin prescription, and there is a movement afoot to reinstate it. The Dutch model has proven that, when drug users aren't persecuted, crime rates drop. And the Swiss have reduced crime and societal problems by supplying heroin to addicts and returning them to society's mainstream. These methods recognize that being human means making mistakes, and persecution for mistakes that harm nobody else leads to bigger problems for society and the individual. If police endorsed revising North American approaches to drug use to bring them more in line with European methods, we'd all be better off. Bruce Symington, Medicine Hat, Alberta. - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl