03 - What we have tried so far
Switzerland
Remember that £24bn from the last chapter? The loss to the economy from theft to feed addictive drug habits? Pepperidge Farm remembers, and so does Switzerland. They have decided as a society that it is simply cheaper and has better health outcomes to just give their heroin addicts government heroin, on demand. There are many benefits to this. Theft to feed a habit is zero or as near zero as you can get. Why bother going to all the trouble of stealing something if you can just get the end goal for free?
The heroin is then consumed in special buildings run by the government. There is a nurse present. This touch-point is a great place for a health and welfare check. The nurse can ask about general health and direct to other services if needed. They can also ask "had you considered trying to give up heroin?" and I bet that more than once someone has said yes and been directed into support services. The nurse is also there to watch the patient while they shoot up. If there are any complications then the nurse can call in emergency services quickly and in medical situations it is the speed of response that saves lives. They could also be on hand for an overdose, but that never happens as the government heroin is regulation strength and is the same each time. No 'bad batches' to catch out the unwary junkie.
Cheaper for society and has better health outcomes? What's not to like. I bet if you asked the UK insurance companies if they would like to keep paying the £24bn per year, or fund a heroin and crack scheme like this out of £12bn per year, and keep the rest I bet I know what the answer is. That would be £12bn dropped directly into the UK economy in the form of cheaper premiums for everyone. Anyone not familiar with the broken window fallacy, this is your time to go read up on it and impress the people at your next dinner party.
The UK
Believe it or not, the world's biggest drug pusher and hypocrite used to have what was called the 'British system' before the global banning of drugs started. This meant that you could go to your doctor and basically get drugs on request.
"Oh doc, I'm finding it harder to get up in the mornings with my age."
"Don't worry me old mucka, have some cocaine. It's what Hitler used to inject into his eyeballs and it did wonders for him!"
"Doctor, it's me kids see. They're right lippy little shits and make all this noise all the time. I don't get any peace."
"It's OK old crone. Here's a week's supply of valium and a stick to beat them with."
Ah, the olden days. It was a different time. Seriously though, my mother remembers my nan getting valium from the doctor and a girl who came over to clean and help around the house. All supplied by the government.
Imagine this system today ...
"Doc, since we've got a bit older I don't find the wife as attractive as she was and we haven't done it in years now. Can you help?"
"Got just the thing for you sunshine. Here's two pills of molly. Put them under the tongue and let them dissolve and you'll be at it like rabbits within the hour. Oh, almost forgot, here's a viagra too, so you can get it up. Don't let the little lady get a sniff of it though, you don't want to know what it does to women."
A system where medics are in control of the supply is a good one. They can not only supply safe drugs but also check in on the patient's health at the same time. You might be starting to notice a pattern here.
Portugal
In 2001 Portugal decriminalised all drug use. If you are caught in possession of personal amounts - they class a supply enough for 10 days to be personal - you go in front of a panel of a psychiatrist, a social worker and a lawyer. The purpose of the panel is to steer the user into addiction support services, but even if declined they cannot issue criminal sanctions, only a fine.
There was an uptick in usage following the decriminalisation, but this was also observed in similar countries that had not changed their laws. The primary reason for decriminalisation - a reduction in HIV rates - was pretty successful. Overall, uptake of addiction services is up and death rates have declined. This is exactly what harm reduction is meant to do.
Interestingly, if you ask a British politician who is going on about drugs about what lessons we can learn from Portugal, they don't want to talk about it. Odd.
A summary of the situation can be found at Wikipedia and the Cato Institute has done a study on the effects.