Amy Winehouse - Winehouse's Dad Calls For Addicts To Be Given Free Heroin

AMY WINEHOUSE's father is calling for drug addicts to be given free heroin by British health officials in a bid to prevent crime.

The Back To Black hitmaker's dad Mitch spoke out at the U.K. Parliament's Home Affairs Select Committee in London on Tuesday (20Oct09), telling politicians about his experience of the way addicts gain treatment.

The former taxi driver supported his famous daughter through several stints in rehab and announced to British Members of Parliament (MPs) at the event that Winehouse has been "drug-free for a year".

Mitch told politicians he thinks Britain should adopt a similar system to Switzerland, where addicts are helped through their problems by receiving free drugs.

He said, "They have been prescribing heroin to their addicts for the past 15 years. You can argue that you are rewarding them by giving them heroin for free. But it helps stabilise and maintain them, giving them time to recover. While that's going on, our communities are safer. They are suffering less. They aren't being vandalised, robbed and burgled."