Summary
REGARDING Neil McKeganey's column (January 20), there is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalisation. Switzerland's heroin maintenance trials have been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with standardised doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with heroin use. Heroin maintenance pilot projects are under way in Canada, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organised crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction.
Cannabis should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the ubiquitous advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as cannabis distribution remains in the hands of organised crime, consumers of the most popular illicit drug will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine.See the full content of this document
Extract
Middle Way Between Prohibition and Legalisation
This "gateway" is the di...
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