Heroin to be prescribed to Canadian addicts by doctors

Heroin to be prescribed to Canadian addicts by doctors
Ben Tufft
The Independent
November 23rd, 2014

Doctors in Canada will become the first medics in North America to prescribe heroin to addicts next week.

Staff at the Vancouver-based Providence Crosstown Clinic have received a shipment of medical grade heroin and will begin prescribing the drug over the coming days.

Health Canada has authorised 120 people to receive the prescriptions, 26 of whom were participants in a previous trial which worked with individuals who had not responded to more conventional treatments.

Following the trial doctors wanted to continue to prescribe heroin to patients in their care, but were unable to after Rona Ambrose, the federal health minister, introduced regulations banning heroin prescriptions outside of clinical trials in October 2013.

Medics went to the supreme court of British Columbia and successfully petitioned it to grant an injunction against the ban.

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Read the full story here.

About a year ago I met one of the lawyers working on this case, along with one of the patients, at a drug policy conference in Vancouver. I'm really glad to see that they were successful!

A Historic Decision for Canada

Article Comments said:

Those of you who do not agree with this decision do not fundamentally understand what you're disagreeing with. And I don't expect you to understand either, unless you ever end up using Dicetyl-Morphine (Heroin) yourself long term.

You have about as much valuable information to contribute to such a complicated issue as does a male with respect to how it feels to become pregnant and give birth.

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The feeling is mutual (among other things).

Not that I'll be partaking in any Heroin Assisted Therapy anytime soon - AFAIK - but I'm so glad that the moral compass of Rona Ambrose, our current conservatard Health Minister - who has zero formal medical training and/or education - has been made completely irrelevant in this admittedly controversial case. Controversial or not though, I applaud the Supreme Court for their decision.

For me, this is truly a historic decision and day for Canada's discriminated street drug using minority.

Thanks for sharing this article SJB - I'm really glad you posted this because I probably would have missed it; much obliged

There IS a god(ess) out there!!!

This is fucking great news - finally a bit more common sense from our northern neighbors! Love you Canada*

(well, some of you, especially the people who made it possible to prescribe heroin to people who should be prescribed it and not relegating opioid aficionados to the limits of methadone or buprenorphine)

I really hate people who can not see the good in programs such as this. People who think that all "druggies" are doomed individuals who are somehow inferior to them and deserve to suffer for the decisions they have made. This program will help those who could not find the stability they were hoping to get from what is considered the standard in replacement therapy.

A related story. The methadone clinics are located in the city in the state that I live. A lot of people live in the suburbs as is the norm in plenty of places. A very well known foundation that operates the clinics and supports harm reduction had a plan to open a clinic outside of the city some 15 miles into the suburbs in what would be considered the industrial part of the town. The place that has all of the small business and what have you. The people of the town were so against it, one woman in the article in the local news paper basically claiming she was concerned that the "junkies" would remove her aluminum siding off her house and sell it, because she heard a story of someones son doing this to them. It sickens me that this is the thinking people have and they dont consider that perhaps their neighbors are desperate to get clean but can not afford to drive 35 miles a day to get to the clinic.

Great, I rekon we could do this here in Aus with heroin and Ice one day.

poledriver said:

Great, I rekon we could do this here in Aus with heroin and Ice one day.

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I'm not sure Methamphetamine will ever be available as a maintenance drug, but I know all too well from plenty of personal experience that Meth, Cocaine, and other potent stimulants are a bitch to quit cold turkey.

The withdrawal/crash/etc. may not carry with it the same amount of physical pain and suffering compared to Heroin (and other potent µ-opioid agonists) withdrawal, I know. I'm sincerely not proud to admit that I've been through both more times than I'd like to remember, but that said, Meth withdrawal can still be really difficult to deal with - particularly if it's after a several week long binge (lower doses but much longer than doing the stuff continuously for a few nights in a row).

But yeah... I don't think they'll ever be using Methamphetamine as a maintenance drug because it's just too harsh with respect to potential neurotoxicity. I could be wrong though.

On the other hand, I could see them using - for example - Dextro-Amphetamine instead. Actually, I've been told by an acquaintance that human trials are currently underway to see if Methamphetamine addicts can be switched over long term to a higher than usual dosage of Vyvanse, which they would take once or twice daily. And since it can't be misused due to it being coupled with the amino acid Lysine, they're apparently giving it a try to see if it'll help. Personally I think it's pretty neat, but I digress.

Re. Heroin Assisted Treatment - I really hope Australia gives it a shot as well, as it will no doubt influence the decisions of other nations in similar situations, except Russia. Those idiots are fucking cruel to their citizens in need of a maintenance drug such as Methadone or Buprenorphine.

Yeah, I guess I just hope that some of the addicts can get something cheap or free and not have to be looking for hits of such an expensive drug (as with heroin) so they dont have to resort to robbing people/houses/cars/businesses etc

brb gonna become a junkie

I'm a status Indian and get free prescriptions does heroin count too? Hahaha