I remember seeing a 60 Minutes episode on Switzerland’s Needle Park epidemic, it was really disturbing. I love their solution of controlled heroin to addicts along with the social and psychological support needed to help them get their lives back on track. It makes sense that if what you are doing is not working, such as our “war on drugs”, then certainly try something else. However, taking a successful program from a small country, where the culture is more progressive, and applying it to our country here in the US seems an epic mountain to climb. It’s certainly frustrating.
Setting the bar high for experimenting with new methods to lower the impact of drugs (and prohibition). Smart solutions that look to have really good results.
Our prohibitionist mindset in the states has always driven me nuts, it is clearly not having the results it seeks. We're just propping up cartels and filling jails with nonviolent offenders. Would love to see us test something like this in the US, but could they ever get it past partisan politics?
In response to a heroin epidemic, Switzerland took the radical approach of prescribing heroin to those addicted to it. The results of the policy that began over two decades ago are outstanding, as is the story behind the push to try something different. Can't recommend this one enough.
While it's encouraging that legalization of marijuana is slowly taking place in the US, it's extremely discouraging to see how the ineffective prohibitionist policies are doubled down on for other "hard" drugs.
I remember seeing a 60 Minutes episode on Switzerland’s Needle Park epidemic, it was really disturbing. I love their solution of controlled heroin to addicts along with the social and psychological support needed to help them get their lives back on track. It makes sense that if what you are doing is not working, such as our “war on drugs”, then certainly try something else. However, taking a successful program from a small country, where the culture is more progressive, and applying it to our country here in the US seems an epic mountain to climb. It’s certainly frustrating.
Setting the bar high for experimenting with new methods to lower the impact of drugs (and prohibition). Smart solutions that look to have really good results.
Our prohibitionist mindset in the states has always driven me nuts, it is clearly not having the results it seeks. We're just propping up cartels and filling jails with nonviolent offenders. Would love to see us test something like this in the US, but could they ever get it past partisan politics?
In response to a heroin epidemic, Switzerland took the radical approach of prescribing heroin to those addicted to it. The results of the policy that began over two decades ago are outstanding, as is the story behind the push to try something different. Can't recommend this one enough.
While it's encouraging that legalization of marijuana is slowly taking place in the US, it's extremely discouraging to see how the ineffective prohibitionist policies are doubled down on for other "hard" drugs.