Heroin Y do we have to come clean? is it because thats wat is "normal"?

[hisredrighthand]

Heroin assisted treatment

PRESCRIPTION HEROIN, on the other hand, is a novel idea, and I really think we should look into that, or at least we should currently do something about the widespread MISTREATMENT & UNDERTREATMENT OF PAIN PTS who actually need opiates, and simultaneously enact measures (safes, etc) to keep opiates out of the hands of RECREATIONAL users, I.E junkies

In Switzerland pretty much anyone who has tried normal maintenance on Buprenorphine/Methadone/Morphine at least once before, uses intravenously and is at least 28-30 years old can get into Heroin assisted treatment. Patients in HAT have to appear 2-3 times daily in a clinic where they inject pharmaceutical grade Diamorphine. They are tested regularly for concurrent use of Cocaine or illicit Heroin (which contains trace amounts of Acetylcodeine and other alkaloids not found in pharmaceutical Diamorphine), but clinics are AFAIK rather generous with the prescription of Benzodiazepines and Methylphenidate. Residents with long-term opiate addiction also qualify for disability and welfare which is around 12K + rent + health insurance, depending on which canton you live in. About 10% of people on maintenance are in HAT and there are even two prisons that offer HAT to eligible inmates.

There are people who are in the program who work and get along fine. Others are at least in good health and not homeless. Yet despite all of this, at any given time around 40% of opiate addicts are still not in any kind of treatment, many are homeless and many others sell their methadone and spend their money on illicit Heroin and Cocaine. It's now almost 20 years since the introduction of HAT so I think it's safe to say that while it works reasonably well for some and generally keeps people alive, it's not a magic bullet. Many people in treatment are isolated, neglected and have no social contacts beside other users. And the number of people who don't seek any kind of treatment shows that a significant percentage of opiate addicts have comorbidities or personality issues beyond what is remedied by opiates.

 

[Keif' Richards]

Normal is not a real or tangible concept. It's just a numbers game that creates the construct of normalcy or the sense of being average.

Everyone has problems and lot of said people have problems far darker and more evil than a substance abuse dependency, which we all know by this point is most often caused by a comorbid mental illness (Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety Disorders of all kinds, Schizophrenia). Yet, we really seem to get the short end of the stick in this department as people seem to generally look upon mental illness in its own right with compassion.