Editorial:
The
Swiss
opt
out
of
another
war
10/3/97
Several weeks ago in this space we discussed the effects of international events, specifically the steadily growing rejection of punitive Prohibition by other peoples and governments, on the future tenability of the American Drug War. This week, the Swiss people, perhaps not unmindful of their history, sent a clear message to both their leaders and to the world that they do not consider war to be in their best interests. In rejecting the zero-tolerance "Youth Against Drugs" initiative by a remarkable 71% to 29%, the Swiss embraced harm reduction, including heroin maintenance for hard-core addicts, as their official policy in dealing with substance abuse. And let us say that this people, famous for their tight-lipped bankers and precision watchmakers, did not act without ample information concerning the alternative. Having seen a world full of nations clinging to a system of violence and repression, they have chosen to continue on their radical course of pragmatism and compassion. The American Drug Warriors, self-proclaimed models of intolerance, cannot be too happy. The Warriors have spent a good deal of time and effort making sure that the rest of the world remains in lock-step behind them. They lead both by force, through a certification process which leaves entire economies vulnerable to Washington's whim, through diplomatic pressure and out and out blackmail, by supplying arms and trampling on the sovereignty of other nations; and they lead by example, condemning thousands to death with state and federal policies on needle exchange, arresting and incarcerating the sick and dying for their medical use of a forbidden plant, imprisoning huge percentages of the Black and Latino populations, and gleefully authorizing the entry of children into the nightmare they call a criminal justice system. But the Swiss, in an act that doesn't bode well for the future of the war, have nonetheless refused march. For years now, the Drug Warriors have lied about the policies and experiences of other nations in an effort to quiet the voices of reform. In a recent Washington Post op- ed, Drug Czar Barry McCaffrey told the nation that even the Dutch, radically tolerant though they are, had "forbidden" medical marijuana, thus proving its uselessness. In fact, the Dutch government is well aware that patients currently buy cannabis at the coffee shops, and therefore found no reason to debate and implement a medical distribution system. The Dutch are also currently conducting major research into the medical uses of marijuana, while the U.S. government is in federal court fighting for it's right to destroy the careers of physicians who so much as discuss the plant with their patients. And if we believed the Drug Warriors, we would be shocked that Switzerland, home of Zurich's infamous "Needle Park," would consider even questioning the dogma. After all, we've been told repeatedly that their "experiment with legalization," was such a failure that the Swiss people had seen the errors of their ways and had put an end to the nonsense. In fact, Needle Park was a failed attempt at coping with an unworkable Prohibition by pushing Zurich's entire, otherwise illegal drug scene into a confined area. In a rather predictable outcome, addicts flocked from all over Europe as did the unregulated black market dealers, many of whom behaved, to say the least, unprofessionally. In the end, it was a disaster, but it was not the microcosm of reform that the Drug Warriors so often label it. Last week, Robert McGinnis, Director of the Family Resarch Council, testified in a congressional hearing that "Needle Park" was illustrative of the inevitable failure of needle exchange. This week those same Swiss voted in favor of a full slate of harm reduction principles. So what does the Swiss vote mean for American drug policy? It means no less than the crumbling of the wall. And the Drug Warriors know it. For as the voices of reform have gained momentum in America, the Warriors have repeated a mantra that despite their dishonest rhetorical spin, contained a kernel of prescience: that "harm reduction" was the precursor of a more dramatic change in policy. Oh, they were much more likely to say that it was a "Trojan horse" for the ominous, but never-defined bogeyman of "legalization," but even so, they had predicted the demise of their precious war, and in that, there was much truth. The ripple effects of the Swiss action will be felt first in Europe, where the voices of reform, from the press and celebrities to police chiefs and public officials, are gaining strength and credibility with each passing day. And they will be felt in Australia where the government came ever-so-close to authorizing heroin maintenance modeled on the Swiss trials, until American pressure, and political cold feet, caused a last minute reprieve for intolerance amid an electorate that was said to be about equally split. But in the end, despite what is likely to be a very unseemly display of bullying and last-ditch offensives, America, home of Drug War Inc., will be forced to admit its lies in the face of a more honest world, and will ultimately bend to a movement bolstered by the growing number of demonstrable successes of its paradigm. So take a moment this week to rejoice, and to thank the Swiss. For they have stood up courageously to the forces of evil. Early in this century they opted out of a war. Now, as the most warring century in the history of mankind draws to a close, they just might have voted to end one.
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