Via Media Awareness Project, we come across an opinion piece in The Independent from a long-time heroin user in a maintenance program in Britain. The user describes his descent into addiction, and then into the program that prescribes pure heroin in measured doses to him each day:
Most people will be unaware that there are about 300 addicts in Britain who are getting heroin on the NHS. I know this because for the past 15 years I have received a daily supply of pure pharmaceutical heroin, together with sterile water and injecting equipment from my local pharmacy. I am now 44, and have remained generally stable, healthy, and in work in my chosen profession for the greater part of this period.
It's not all a cakewalk; although stability has returned to this user's life after youthful abuse that destroyed his life, he can't really leave the range of his clinic without suffering withdrawal. But it's an interesting data point nevertheless, making clear that this alternative approach can be effective.
