Pubdate: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 Source: Beacon Herald, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2014 Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/letters Website: http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1459 Author: Robert Sharpe Page: A5 Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v14/n615/a04.html Cited: Medical prescription of heroin to treatment resistant heroin addicts: two randomised controlled trials: http://www.bmj.com/content/327/7410/310.full MIDDLE GROUND IN DRUG WAR A response to John Robson's July 24 column. There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users by providing them with standardized doses in a clinical setting. The successful Swiss program has inspired heroin maintenance pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. Marijuana should be taxed and regulated like alcohol, only without the advertising. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers of the most popular illicit drug (marijuana) will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition. Marijuana may be relatively harmless, but marijuana prohibition is deadly. For information on the efficacy of heroin maintenance please read the following British Medical Journal report: www.bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310/ www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7410/310 To learn more about Canada's heroin maintenance research please visit: www.naomistudy.ca . Sincerely, Robert Sharpe, MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom