13 February 2007

BRUSSELS — There are about 3,000 drug addicts in Liege. The city is considering a plan to start free handing out free heroin to some of them, Metro Time reports.

“After a lot of discussion, we have chosen for the distribution of pharmaceutical heroin under medical supervision”, said Mayor Willy Demeyer.

The municipal government is following an example in Switzerland, where good results have been achieved in a similar distribution programme.

The programme will begin among 200 heroin addicts. One half of them will be treated with diacetylmorphine, a pharmaceutical variation of heroine. The other half will be the  control group and will be getting methadone. All of the participants will be supervised by doctors and psychiatrists.

The test stage is expected to show whether treatment with diacetylmorphine is more efficient than treatment with methadone.

The programme has received a 3.3-million euro subsidy from the state government. The strictly supervised distribution of heroin should help the addicts switch focus from concerns about where to get their next dose to their social and physical well-being, so that in the long run they could even start a life without drugs. Also the number of drug-associated crimes should go down.

The results of the experiment will be published in 2010.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news