News, Study touts treating heroin addicts with heroin. (legal, drugs, radical)

[JD59]

LONDON, England (CNN) -- If treating heroin addicts by giving them heroin seems counterintuitive, having the government fund that addiction to the tune of more than $22,000 per patient per year comes across as downright radical.

Study touts treating heroin addicts with heroin - CNN.com

[DrJoey]

"The intensity of the program is quite striking," said John Strang, who led the research team at Britain's National Addiction Centre, associated with King's College in London. "The bond that is formed and the commitment that's established between the patient coming in for treatment and the staff is far greater than you would ever ordinarily see."

Without empirical data and controls this is just another overhyped solution.

How about we legalize all drugs but incarcerate criminals who are arrested with drugs in their system for life? We would clear out the prisons with non-violent offenders and be sending a message to any drug users that if they became violent they would be sentenced to life. And I subscribe to hard life, no TV, manual labor, and food rejected from the Kibbles n Bits line.

[machiavelli1]

They have been using Methadone which is a derivitive of Heroin for many years to cure heroin addiction. Now suboxine is commonly used as an "opiate blocker" for this addiction

Heroin was originally developed to cure methadone addiction

[Catdancer]

Originally Posted by machiavelli1

They have been using Methadone which is a derivitive of Heroin for many years to cure heroin addiction. Now suboxine is commonly used as an "opiate blocker" for this addiction

Heroin was originally developed to cure methadone addiction

I know this is an old, old thread but CD encourages their revival, so here goes:

I'd argue that methadone isnot a cure for heroin but merely a legal substitution that the pharmaceutical companies can profit from. Now Ibogaine, there's a naturally occurring drug that shows huge promise in treating heroin withdrawal but the US government has classified it as a schedule 1 substance. That's because Big Pharma pumps huge amounts of money into the political system. It's not in the interests of big business to let people administer "natural cures" because without synthesis, they can't copyright the stuff.

What kind of world would we live in if everybody could medicate with natural substances? A much poorer one for doctors and drug companies....that's for sure.