This is out of my new schedule of publishing order of several pieces I have written lately, but I can’t express how important I think this direction toward medicalization of opioids, is. I have followed the War on Drugs since it began in 1970 and found it causes worse harm than the drugs, ruins more lives than illegal drugs do, creates an underground of criminal elements, and it has done nothing to improve the state of drugs entering the US. The rate is far higher today than 1972, and the cartels are a deadly function of the high desirability of illegal drugs. The opium fields of Afghanistan are 100% diverted into the illegal guns- (and more)- for- drugs market and heroin use is soaring..
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/canada-will-allow-prescription-heroin
Diacetylmorpine (pharmaceutical heroin)
Photo Credit: Creative Commons/WikimediaHealth Canada announced Friday that it is proposing new regulations to allow access to prescription heroin under its Special Access Program (SAP). That program allows for emergency access to drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions when conventional treatments have failed or are unsuitable.
“A significant body of scientific evidence supports the medical use of diacetylmorphine, also known as pharmaceutical-grade heroin, for the treatment of chronic, relapsing opioid dependence. Diacetylmorphine is permitted in a number of other jurisdictions, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Switzerland, to support a small percentage of patients who have not responded to other treatment options, such as methadone and buprenorphine,” the statement said.
Legal, prescribed heroin is the only realistic way to go. Especially when so much Afghani heroin is flooding the streets. It is primarily because heroin is illegal that people overdose accidentally, esp. when a new more pure batch hits town. We need to buy the Afghani crops and sell them in pharmaceutical form to keep them from becoming heroin of various undisclosed mixes.
We will never stop the flood of heroin, until it is legally diverted through medical channels.
Understanding Mortal Mind 