Suggested Reading
Dr. J.N., New York, NY, January, 2000 "High Bottom
Drunk may prove to be the definitive work on addiction and recovery,
and I think I've read them all. HBD should be required reading for
everyone who is old enough to pour a drink or roll a joint."
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Drug War Retreat Continued...
"The drug war, in Europe at least, is essentially over," says Paul Flynn, a Labour MP from Wales. "Our course is irreversibly moving toward a more pragmatic approach to substance abuse generally throughout Europe.
Aside from Sweden, the British are the last nation of the European Union to move away from criminally enforced prohibition as front-line drug abuse prevention." In the mid-'70s, the Dutch were the first Europeans to back away from the U.S.-led drug war, with positive results.
"After 30 years under some of the harshest drug policies in the European Union, Britain's drug problem is among the worst in Europe. And after 25 years of intelligent, pragmatic policies, drugs in the Netherlands seem to cause the least harm to individuals and society," notes Flynn, who also sits on the Health Committee for the Council of Europe, an advisory body that makes policy recommendations to its 43 member nations.
Over the past five years, much of Western Europe has begun to move toward decriminalization of drugs, at least as far as personal possession and use is concerned. Spain and Germany are no longer arresting people for possession of soft drugs, such as cannabis or psychedelic mushrooms, and Portugal essentially has decriminalized drug possession altogether. Portuguese law now requires those caught with up to 10 "daily doses" of any substance to appear before a non-punitive commission, if they are cited at all.
Britain's next step could be to expand its system of legal distribution of
heroin to addicts.
Under "opiate maintenance," registered addicts receive legal, measured doses of heroin along with other health and social services.
The programs...
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