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Decriminalizing drugs for public health
"Speaking clearly and being pragmatic are also possible in a conservative country. We had strong support from the religious circles."
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Switzerland’s drastic change in drug policy followed soaring HIV infection rates related to a heroin epidemic in the late 1980s and 1990s. (Shutterstock/Aleksandar Karanov)
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em>Switzerland’s drastic change in drug policy followed soaring HIV infection rates related to a heroin epidemic in the late 1980s and 1990s. Switzerland introduced substitution treatment and other harm reduction measures such as supervised injection rooms, which reportedly decreased incidences of drug users with HIV among other outcomes. On Jan. 29, former Swiss president Ruth Dreifuss, who chairs the Global Commission on Drug Policy, talked to The Jakarta Post’s Ardila Syakriah. The following is an excerpt from the interview:
Question: You have been among the drivers behind Switzerland’s drug policy reforms. What has changed in the fight against drug abuse there?
Answer: We fundamentally changed the focus. We are putting […] the people’s health and also the people’s freedom first, because […] people can [decide] to use drugs and they will still belong to our community. [...] I was happy enough to be in charge of introducing universal coverage for healthcare. We open new therapeutic possibilities for drug users. We can also finance them through health insurance.
[…] In Indonesia, I’ve heard some treatments are not paid for by insurance. We should really offer them what they need.
How have such measures changed the drug scene in Switzerland?
[…] AIDS and Hepatitis C are now at the same [...], very low level, among people who inject drugs and the general population. [The spread of the diseases] was problem number one […]. There is no longer a source of contamination among the people who use drugs.
[T]hose who are really addicted are considered patients receiving treatment, because our main problem was heroin and injecting heroin. We have people who have been on substitution treatment for many years, living a balanced life, some with jobs that they had not found previously because they now have […] treatment. These people [...] live in good balance and gain control over their lives.
