A test-run of issuing free heroin to addicts in Copenhagen appears to be successful, with initial results showing reduced crime and prostitution and improved health and life quality for those taking part in the project.

Since March this year, some 20 addicts have been part of a programme under which two clinics provide them with heroin each morning and afternoon.

The head of the Valmue Clinic in Copenhagen says that his centre has registered both a physical and psychological improvement among the addicts.

“They don’t have to wake up in the morning with how to get money as the first thing they think about. That gives them a surplus that means that we can talk to them about their housing situation, how we can help them apply for a disability pension if they need that, or perhaps about the child they have lost contact with,” says Valmue Clinic Head Torben Ballegaard.

Fewer crimes
At the same time, Ballegaard says that addicts say that they commit fewer crimes, have stopped prostitution and have improved health. Several have put on weight because apart from heroin, they are provided breakfast and a hot meal during the day.

Daily contact with a nurse also means that infections, boils and illnesses are discovered earlier, according to Senior Nurse Vivian Kjær at the KABS institution.

“They get the courage to attend to things that they have kept to themselves – for example to say that they have shared a needle with another addict and would like to be tested,” says Kjær.

Nonetheless, Ballegaard says that while they may get more of a handle on their lives, their chances of becoming clean are very limited.

“I can’t see any of them being able to get off heroin, but I can see some being able to live a sensible life with heroin,” Ballegaard says.