Talk show host to take heroin on television

A television presenter on a new Dutch talk show plans to take heroin and LSD on air, in a programme intended to reach young audiences on topics that touch their lives, producers said today.

The show, scheduled to premiere on late-night television on October 10, is called Spuiten & Slikken, or Swallow and Shoot Up.

Even in the liberal Netherlands, where marijuana is sold and used openly, the proposed actions by presenter Filemon Wesselink may cross legal limits, and it was unclear how authorities will respond.

The show’s hostess will interview guests about drug use and abuse, while two other presenters carry out in-the-field experiments with sex and drugs.

Wesselink plans to take heroin in the form of a pill, said Ingrid Timmer, a spokeswoman for the show's producer BNN.

“It’s not our intention to create an outcry. We just want to talk about subjects that are part of young people’s lives,” Timmer said.