Swiss vote for heroin prescriptions
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Swiss voters have strongly backed a proposal for heroin to be prescribed to registered addicts.
The result of a referendum shows 68 per cent of people are in favour of the move.
Officials say drug-related crime and deaths have dropped since pilot schemes were introduced a decade ago.
Doctors say prescriptions help control intake and the daily contact means addicts can be treated for other ailments.
But opponents of the proposal say prescription heroin will send the wrong message to young people and harm the addicts themselves.
The scheme allows addicts to inject the drug under medical supervision at a clinic.
Supporters say it will get long-term addicts out of Switzerland's so called "needle parks" and reduce drug-related crime.
Switzerland is the first country to include a plan to prescribe heroin to addicts in government policy.
- BBC
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