Should hard drugs be decriminalized?

A Vancouver clinic has been giving out free heroin to addicts for years.They say harm-reduction techniques are more effective than law enforcement in getting addicts off drugs.Should hard drugs such as heroin be decriminalized?

In a small clinic in downtown Vancouver,a patient walks up to the dispensary counterto get her prescription filled. She ties a rubber band tightly around her arm, jabs a syringe into a vein, and injects the drug treatment she's received. That drugis heroin.

Heroin is often perceived as a killera drug that conjures up images of desperation and uncontrollable addiction;a downward spiral of crimes, catastrophes and early death.

But the Providence Crosstown Clinic in Vancouver has been giving out free heroin to addicts for several years; it'sthe only treatment centre in North America where addicts get actual heroin. They say harm-reduction techniques are more effective than law enforcement in getting addicts off drugs,reducing crime, andsaving money for the health care system.

Critics argue free heroin only coddles and enables drug addictsand prolongs addiction rather than ending it.

But more and more Canadian cities aim to offer harm reduction services for drug addicts. Vancouver has long had a supervised injection site.Kamloops B.C. recently opened one. Other cities, such asToronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Hamilton to name a few,are looking at doing the same.

Harm reduction can mean anything from a safe place to shoot up to free supplies of needles,and heroin.What do you think about this trend?

Our question today: "Should hard drugs such as heroin be decriminalized?"