Swiss Heroin trials and methadone and heroin related deaths

[IkBenDeMan]

I am currently trying to put together a research paper regarding the efficacy of the current Swiss drug trails of giving heroin to narcotic addicted patients. Many critics of these trails use statistics (of unknown sources, generally) of the number of heroin related deaths to try to justify their belief that the drug trails in Switzerland are not scientific. Any help to access to Federal Government (United States) statistics (I must see the federal government's study, not just the statistics) on the number of deaths nationally from both heroin and methadone.

Also, if anybody knows where I could access Swiss government studies, such as death rates from heroin (both from the program, which I don't think are any) and from illicit heroin and methadone, or studies relating to things such as: health of participants in the heroin trials, crime rates of participants in heroin related trails, employment rates of those in both methadone and heroin related trials, or anything anybody might think would be relevant.

Preferably I want to see government studies, but other studies may help. Any help anybody can provide will be greatly appreciated. I will post my final research paper on the forums as soon as it is complete! Thanks much!

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Helpful topic

[ironmics]

Cool subject, seems like a good idea, but I would personally like to see morphine used instead of heroin(heroin just bugs and scares me). Of course using heroin for addiction would have to be completely in patient which removes one of methadone's benefits. I do know that methadone is one of the most frequently overdosed opiate, but I do not know any of the stats on how it shapes up against heroin. Also on wikipedia there's a little blurb about methadone causing life threatening heart problems in 6% of the population.

[IkBenDeMan]

Thanks, bro. Well, I would also be intersted on data for morphine but I don't think there's any. To my knowledge... no country in te world uses it as a maintenence program. If you have any data let me know. Also, it's not necessarily true that it would have to be completely inpatient. In Germany, if other treatments don't work, a doctor may perscribe it and the perscription may be brought home.

[MrJim]

SWIM has lived in fair old Switerland. The center of it all there is in Zurich. SWIM can personally say that the park where junkies used to flock to is still active, but overall things have quited over there since this programs inception. It is a polarizing subject for the locals, which I am sure you could imagine.
If you are interested in this sort of thing SWIM highly recommends reading up on insite - Vancouver, BC's safe injection center. VANDU - the vancouver area network of drug users - is also full of harm reduction information.
There is a documentary called "Fix - The Story of an Addicted City" which is about the founder of VANDU and who he is and what he is trying to accomplish.
Good luck with the project!

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Very helpful!