Pubdate: 8/21/97
Source: CBS News transcript

 Swiss Heroin maintenance experiment

(Harry Smith)  When it comes to having a drug problem  there is nothing
unique about Switzerland. What is unique is what the Swiss are doing about it
Switzerland is the first and so far the only country in the world
to officially give heroin to addicts. Tom Fenton checked out the results.

(Tom Fenton)  Ever since the government started this controversial program,
of giving away heroin to hundreds of hard core addicts, the Zurich police
have noticed an astonishing drop in drug related crime. Marco who's been on
heroin for half his life no longer has to steal and deal. Three times a day
he comes to this clinic pays a nominal fee of ten dollars, and gets a fix.

(T. F. speaking to camera)  "The heroin in this syringe is pure and sterile
the addict inject himself with it, under supervision. He's given pointer if
he's not doing it right, and when he's finished he disposes of the syringe."

(Marco)  "I don't have to be a criminal anymore. I'm starting to put my life
together."

(T. F.)  The Swiss say they have about 30,000 heroin addicts and over the
years they've tried other means of controlling the problem.

(T. F. speaking to camera)  "When I was here five years ago this lovely
rose garden was called needle park. People were shooting up all around me.
Drug addicts were selling every imaginable combination of drugs to other
addicts. It was a nightmare. So much out of control that the city fathers
finally had to shut it down. Earst Bunkerbil (sp?) runs one of the heroin
dispensing clinic in Switzerland new experiment.

(E. B.)  "They get  their dope here and they think about themselves and
their lives and that's how you develop the urge to quit.

(T. F.)  But critics like psychiatrist Earst Ashbock (sp?) say it will have
the opposite effect.

(E. A.)  "To give heroin to addicts sends the message to our society that
these drugs are not so dangerous."

(T. F.)  Many others share that concern. But the swiss police are backing
the  program saying it may not cure the addicts, but it certainly cuts
down crime.  Tom Fenton, CBS News Zurich.