Niels Rytter

Politiken

Who would have thought junkies would turn down free heroin? said Niels Rytter. But that’s what we’ve found nearly a year into Copenhagen’s pilot program to supply addicts with heroin on a doctor’s prescription. The program was supposed to rain benefits onto both the addicts and the rest of society. The users were guaranteed a pure dose of heroin so they wouldn’t “risk a trip to the hospital or even death” from buying impure drugs on the street. And since addicts wouldn’t have to steal money to buy their drugs, the crime rate was supposed to go down. Just one problem: The addicts aren’t biting.

Out of Denmark’s 30,000 or so heroin addicts, only 80 people have taken up the government’s offer. Social workers say that’s because the program is “too restrictive, highly supervised, and controlled.” Users have to show up daily to get their fix, which is administered and supervised by a doctor. “Addicts feel they are losing their freedom.”

If the state wants this program to work, it will have to start letting users shoot up at home. “Because when junkies say no thanks to free heroin, it goes without saying that the system needs to be reviewed.”