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Swiss
Vote
Overwhelmingly
Against
"Zero-Tolerance"
10/3/97
Having recently completed an opiate maintenance trial in which 1,100
long-term addicts were provided with heroin in a successful effort to reduce
their criminality, joblessness and alienation from society, Switzerland
last week faced an electoral challenge to their emerging harm reduction-based
drug policy. But in a landslide which surprised even the most ardent of
Swiss reformers, over 70% of voters supported the current humanitarian
trend over the slickly-named but intellectually and morally bankrupt "Youth
Without Drugs" initiative.
The initiative, which was opposed by the Swiss government as well as
most mainstream churches, youth workers and substance abuse professionals,
would have outlawed any further heroin maintenance programs as well as
methadone and needle exchange programs, and allowed only abstinence-based
treatment modalities. With only 29% of voters supporting this Drug War
proposal, the initiative was handily defeated even in Switzerland's conservative
rural districts.
Ethan Nadelmann, Director of The Lindesmith Center, a drug policy think
tank, said, "It's very exciting, the Swiss vote will send a positive
message to the United States and the rest of the world about more tolerant
drug policy."
-- END --
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Issue #14, 10/3/97
Web Magazine Rates Drug Library a Perfect Five | DPF Conference This Month: The 11th International Conference on Drug Policy taking place in New Orleans | Swiss Vote Overwhelmingly Against Zero-Tolerance | House Judiciary Committee holds hearings on medical marijuana | Needle Exchange Funding: Grant info for large, small and start-up needle exchange programs | Substance Abuse Research Grants: Call for proposals from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | McCaffrey and Methadone | British Newspaper Launches Campaign to Legalize Cannabis | Rash of Overdoses in Australia | Colombian President Defends His Drug War Record | Link of the Week: Monitoring the Colombia situation | Quote of the Week: An about face by ex-general McCaffrey on the public's ability to decide the medical marijuana issue | Editorial: The Swiss opt out of another war
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