Hooked on Dogma

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1997. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Hooked on Dogma

Washington Post (12/21/97) P. C1
Shenk, Joshua Wolf

Abstract: In spite of the failure of Switzerland's "Needle Park" experiment in the early 1990s, Swiss researchers remain intent on exploring alternative avenues to controlling the side effects of intravenous drug use--primarily the spread of infectious diseases--notes U.S. News & World Report's Joshua Wolf Shenk in a Washington Post commentary. From 1994 to 1997, for example, leading social scientist Ambros Uchtenhagen managed an experiment in which 18 treatment centers across Switzerland offered 1,146 male and female addicts injections of pure heroin three times a day. This program reduced the rate of criminal activity among participants from 59 percent to 10 percent, while the rate of homelessness in the group dropped from 12 percent to near zero. Furthermore, HIV and hepatitis infections dropped significantly, and the annual death rate fell by 50 percent. Meanwhile, Shenk asserts that America remains constricted by a zero-tolerance policy that has so far rejected such innovative approaches to the study of drugs. In the United States, injection drug addicts have become the single largest risk group in the spread of HIV, and, according to the National Institutes of Health, the financial costs of untreated heroin addiction amounts to $20 billion annually. In conclusion, Shenk notes that like the Swiss, Americans should realize that there is a middle ground between condoning drug use and zero-tolerance.

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