NCJ Number
178985
Journal
The World & I Volume: 13 Issue: 10 Dated: October 1998 Pages: 70-73
Date Published
1998
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article reviews Germany’s resistance to the legalization of illicit drugs.
Abstract
Germany will continue its life-without-drugs stance and resist all demands to legalize illicit drugs. The primary goal of German drug policy is to prevent addictions from developing by educating young people as early in life as possible. The key is to approach young people in their own environment and help them understand how to enjoy a drug-free life. Assistance programs also must be improved, to motivate addicts to undergo abstinence therapy. By contrast, experiments such as the supervised distribution of heroin to hard-core addicts provide no justifiable approach. Outcomes of the Swiss project using that approach are not nearly as positive as its advocates assert. The most promising approach is intensive medical and psychosocial care of addicts to help them achieve physical and psychological stability and reintegration into everyday life and professional activity.