Source: Courier-Mail, The (Australia) Contact: http://www.thecouriermail.com.au/ Copyright: News Limited 1998 Pubdate: 7 Dec 1998 Page: 10 Author: C. Whittred IT was reported (C-M, Dec 1) that 84 percent of Swiss voters had opposed the legalisation of hard drugs. The vote is very significant in the context of that nation's experiments with liberal drug policies. It is a telling blow to the so-called harm minimisation approach. In 1989, the Swiss Government established an elaborate social service network for addicts in a central park in Zurich, later to become known worldwide as Needle Park. Addicts were offered counselling, help with employment, free condoms, needles, syringes, medical aid, blankets, food and clothing. Free needles were distributed in exchange for used ones. Needle supply reached an average 7800 a day and the problem became a nightmare. Drugs were bought, sold and consumed 24 hours a day and 50 percent of addicts tested positive to HIV despite free needles. Zurich's city authorities finally admitted the experiment had failed and closed the park in 1992. There also was a similar experiment with liberal drug policies in the Letten district in Zurich. A publlc outcry over several drug-related murders and assaults led to the closing down of the Letten drug scene also. Many people who experiment with a drug are not harmed by the first use but all who end up victims of drug use began by experimenting. Not one of them anticipated serious harm. At a recent conference on drugs in Brisbane, it was heart-rending to hear teenage heroin addicts speak about their addictions. They were very angry that no one had told them of the dangers of marijuana and other so-called soft drugs. Harm-minimisatlon and liberalisation policies result in enormous increases in drug use, crime and attendant problems. Countries that have implemented such policies bear out this fact. C. Whittred, Keperra. December 1 - --- Checked-by: Mike Gogulski