AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - On a quiet alley in east Amsterdam, a security guard stands watch outside a brick office building, which 75 men and women visit twice a day to smoke or shoot up government-funded heroin.
Public-health experts in the Netherlands say free distribution is one reason that drug-related deaths are far less common than in the United States. The program also has reduced crime and improved the quality of life for many users, according to Ellen van den Hoogen, who runs the clinic.
Is it an answer for the United States, where the opioid epidemic continues to claim more than 100 lives every day? Maybe it should be, said van den Hoogen. "It's been an enormous success. I think it would work elsewhere." CONT>
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