Even as some European countries are liberalizing their approach to marijuana, they draw a clear distinction between “soft” and “hard” drugs. Hard drug abuse — with an estimated two million problem users — is a concern in Europe, just as it is in the US. There is no easy solution. But the pragmatic European approach — based on harm reduction rather than punishment for an immoral act — appears to have had some success. Switzerland has been at the forefront of these efforts.

The last time I was in Switzerland, I dropped into a Starbucks in downtown Zürich, went downstairs into the bathroom…and it was all blue. I had stumbled into another example of a creative European drug policy. The Swiss, who don’t want their junkies shooting up in public bathrooms, install blue lights. I couldn’t see my veins…you couldn’t shoot up if you wanted to.

Of course, this minor frustration wouldn’t stop junkies from finding a fix. Across the street is a machine that once sold cigarettes. Now it sells hygienic, government-subsidized syringes — three for two francs, about a buck apiece. The Swiss recognize that heroin doesn’t spread HIV/AIDS or other deadly diseases. Dirty needles do.

If addicts need more than just sterile needles, they know they can go down the street to a heroin-maintenance clinic for their fix. Rather than steal (or worse) to finance their addiction, they get the services of a nurse and a counselor. Clinic workers told me that in Switzerland, crime and AIDS cases related to heroin use have decreased, while recovery and employment rates among their clients have increased. Swiss society is working to help addicts stay alive, get off of welfare, and rejoin the workforce.