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important, if drug dealers are not on the streets they are no longer enticing young novices to start <br />using heroin. On June 2, 2006 the prestigious medical journal, "Lancet," released a report on the <br />Swiss project stating that over the past ten years Zurich has "seen an 82 per cent decline in new users <br />of heroin. ,48 <br />This tremendous decrease in incidence of expected new heroin users was masked by "a <br />stable prevalence rate" of current users, which up till now no one bothered to look beyond. <br />When addicted people wake up in the morning they have only one thought, "Where will I get <br />my fix ?" If they know where they might score, the next thought is, "How do I pay for it ?" And if <br />they also have money for the drugs then their next thoughts are, "When I go down there is the dealer <br />going to sell me talcum powder and cheat me out of my money? Is he going to beat me up, steal my <br />money and my drugs ?" Or worse, "Is he going to sell me a `hot -shot' and end my life ?" Because of <br />these thoughts the addicted person's life is in constant chaos every waking hour. But in Switzerland <br />and the Netherlands, because of these harm reduction programs the addicts were able to stabilize <br />their lives. They are no longer treated as criminals but as people with health problems. Health <br />problems can be solved. Homelessness among the addicts fell from 12 percent to zero and fulltime <br />employment more than doubled to 42 percent of participants. Many participants quit using free <br />government heroin. <br />Why would they do that? At LEAP we maintain it was because they got their lives back <br />they once again had hope for the future. <br />That is the answer to America's drug problem. Give people hope for the future and they will <br />leave drugs behind. In recent years similar programs to those of Switzerland and Holland have been <br />initiated by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, England, Germany, and Spain. <br />So what are the outcomes of free governmental distribution? <br />1. No profit motive for drug distribution <br />(The underground drug market would no longer exist.) <br />2. No individuals selling drugs anywhere <br />(They couldn't make any money at it.) <br />3. Less people begin using drugs <br />(No drug dealers in our communities or schools enticing new customers to use drugs) <br />4. No crimes committed to obtain drugs <br />(No pilfering, stealing, or robbing to obtain drugs because for those who still felt they <br />must use drugs they would be free) <br />5. No criminal association for drug users <br />(They will not have to go to criminals to obtain their drugs and will not end up in prison <br />with violent criminals, learning how to become successful gangsters, because they use <br />them.) <br />6. No diseases passed by sharing needles <br />(AIDS and Hepatitis are terrible medical problems. According to the National Center for <br />Disease Control, more than 1/3 of the AIDS cases in the U.S. can be traced to <br />intravenous -drug -users sharing needles. )50 <br />7. Users able to stabilize their addictions and get on with their lives <br />(Treating addiction and drug abuse as health problems instead of a crime problems allows <br />users to ask for help.) <br />15 <br />