Heroin prescription for addicts

Swiss voters looked set today to approve a proposal allowing heroin addicts to obtain the drug under prescription.

The first 20 of the country's 26 cantons to publish results of a referendum all voted in favour of a prescription scheme approved by parliament earlier this year, making permanent an experimental programme that has been in place since 1994.

The referendum was instigated by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), seeking to overturn parliament's decision.

Advocates of the programme have said that allowing addicts to be prescribed heroin makes them less likely to turn to crime to pay for their habit, and that the treatment can lower mortality rates. Critics argue the scheme has done little to encourage users to give up the drug.

At the beginning of 2008, nearly 1,300 addicts were being prescribed heroin out of 26,000 undergoing treatment, many of whom were receiving the synthetic substitute methadone.

In another controversial referendum, early results indicated that the Swiss had rejected proposals to decriminalise cannabis, with the first 20 cantons voting against the initiative.

Results from the remaining cantons were expected later today.