© Michael Weber / Global Look Press
Health Canada suggested "remov[ing] some of the regulatory restrictions specific to diacetylmorphine [pharmaceutical grade heroin] in the Narcotic Control Regulations," the ministry said in a statement.
"These proposed changes would allow [heroin] to be administered to patients outside of a hospital setting and provide an additional treatment option for healthcare providers," it added. According to the proposed amendments, heroin-assisted treatment can be considered part of a "comprehensive treatment plan that could include other related services, such as primary healthcare and counseling."
The plan was announced by Canadian Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor during the Canadian Center on Substance Abuse's conference in the city of Calgary on Wednesday. "We plan to support innovative pilot projects that will provide a safer opioid alternative such as dilaudid [opioid-class pain medication] to people who use drugs at supervised consumption sites," she said. Canada currently has 25 supervised drug injection sites, including the one in Calgary.
More than 2,800 opioid drug users died in 2016 and the number is expected to reach 3,000 in 2017, the health minister stated. "This is an emergency and ... sometimes the short-term measures need to be taken to address the reality on the ground. We are in the midst of a national public health crisis and no one group or government can address it alone," Taylor said.
In 2014, doctors in the Canadian city of Vancouver became the first medics in North America to administer prescription heroin to drug addicts. The procedure is highly controlled with patients having to visit the clinic three times a day to receive their doses at scheduled times.
Heroin-assisted treatment is applied to those opioid users who don't respond to substitution drugs, such as methadone and buprenorphine.
The procedure is allowed by health services in some European counties, including Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark, according to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction.
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So what does the government of Canada do, consider offering the pure unadulterated drug to them.
Drug rehab is a joke, that is unless you have enough money to get a family member clean, and that can be a several thousand dollar enterprise.
So with all the clamp down on narcotic prescriptions in Canada, why not give the addict what they want the real thing Heroin. After all naloxone kits are offered in BC for free, that is if there is someone around to administer the antidote.
Maybe some of us remember the scene, in the movie Pulp Fiction, where a guy had suffered an overdose, and one of the main characters stabbed him in the chest with a drug the miraculously brought the guy back to life again.
there won't be new drug addicts just becasuse it's easy to come by, make it easy to come by any may be crime will be reduced, families won't suffer (so much) and the good ole government has something new to tax- build better health services, infrastructure etc.
Has anyone noticed that countries where there is no drug prohibition (except age limitation) tend towards running smoother... ?
Some people like to play tennis, some like beer, some like gardening, some like heroin... so what??
O_o (indeed)
Heroin-assisted treatment is applied to those opioid users who don't respond to substitution drugs, such as methadone and buprenorphine.
Now that is a strange phrase, heroin assisted treatment, now here I am confused, I thought methadone was a heroin assisted treatment.