Perspectives on Drug Prohibition

SWISS SHOW THE WAY FORWARD

There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket
legalisation. The heroin maintenance programme in Switzerland has 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 illicit heroin use.

The success of the Swiss programme has inspired heroin maintenance
pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark 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 organised crime controls cannabis distribution,
consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of addictive
drugs such as cocaine.

Given that cannabis is arguably safer than legal alcohol -- the plant
has never been shown to cause an overdose death -- it makes no sense
to waste tax revenue on failed policies that finance organised crime
and facilitate hard drug use.

Robert Sharpe

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington DC