Source:   Canberra Times
Contact:    Fri, 01 Aug 97

Swedish heroin trial flawed from the start
 
I'M WRITING in response to the July 12 letter of John E Miller, national
secretary of the Australian Christian Coalition. Mr Miller's letter
implied that because Sweden trialled a "permissive approach to illicit
drug use", the country became the "highest drugusing nation in Europe"
then, by reversing the permissive drug policy, became the country with the
lowest drug use in Europe.
 
I believe the "permissive approach" he referred to was a twoyear trial
begun in April 1965. In that trial health authorities allowed some doctors
to prescribe opiates and stimulants to just over 200 clients. The trial
was flawed and any conclusions drawn from it of dubious value.
 
According to an article in the International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol
6, No. 2 1995, most of the 10 doctors who started in the trial left and
one of the remaining doctors who took care of 156 of the clients allowed
them to write their own prescriptions.
 
Also, the trial had no control group. Without a control group there was no
mechanism to determine whether or not the drugprescribing program caused
the rising number of injecting drug consumers or if the number was due to
a rise throughout Europe and North America at that time.
 
A report on the experiment is the basis for every claim that Sweden's
prescribing trial led to a "massive rise of the number of addicts" in the
1960s.
 
While Sweden now presents itself as having an effective zerotolerance
policy on drug consumption, the reality is quite different. The journal
article identified above, quotes a Swedish newspaper stating that drug use
and violence are escalating out of control and that Sweden is heading for
a similar situation to that of the USA.
 
In June 1995 the Swedish Minister of Justice is quoted as saying that
there is a clear connection between a rise in violent crime in Sweden and
availability of illegal drugs and weapons.
 

                                            PATRICIA VARGA
                                                      Holt