Pubdate: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 Source: Washington Post (DC) Copyright: 2012 The Washington Post Company Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491 Author: Robert Sharpe Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n211/a02.html SHORT OF LEGALIZING HARD DRUGS There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and full legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. The success of the Swiss program has inspired pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. If expanded, heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. Robert Sharpe, Washington The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom