Clean Heroin and quality paraphernalia should be provided freely to those who can demonstrate opioid addiction as part of some sort of larger government program
There's pilot projects doing exactly this in various countries, including Switzerland and Germany. Patients can just go in there twice a day, they get a clean rig filled with pharmaceutical grade h and shoot up right there. This approach demonstrably works better than methadone clinics in all relevant metrics (number of ODs, likelyness of achieving full abstinence at some point, criminal activity, development of social and economic situation of the addict etc.). Still, governments refuse to expand the program because "it would send the wrong message to people".
Yeah, Methadone clinics are fucking horrible in the United States. The rules you need to follow are basically designed to set you up to fail because they make the process of getting Methadone in many cases more ridiculous than just staying on street Heroin. Gotta show up to the clinic every single day just to dose. Usually it's not gonna be near where you live because suburban yuppies don't want to be reminded of the real world. Got a job you need to go to? Fuck you. Also don't get fired, because this shit can be expensive. Weed helps with your anxiety? Also fuck you, that's a drug.
I mean holy shit, just give them the methadone, who cares if they sell it. Better that than having them risk it everyday with street Fentanyl laced Heroin.
Buprenorphine has much looser restrictions, and it works wonders. I go to a free clinic every other month to get a prescription for 8 weeks of medication, and they allow much more leniency when it comes to failed drug tests as long as you test positive for Buprenorphine. My doctor is chill, and even gave me the naloxone free generic version because it's only a third the cost. Just use this model for medical Heroin and Methadone. It literally can not be worse than what we are doing right now.
EDIT: Wanted to expand on Suboxone, the Buprenorphine/Naloxone mixed medication. This shit is much more expensive than regular Buprenorphine, and the justification for it having Naloxone in it is it discourages abuse by injection. The pharma companies that produce it claim the Naloxone will induce precipitated withdrawals when used in routes of administration not intended, i.e ways of taking it other than under the tongue. However, this is not true. Buprenorphine has a higher binding affinity to mu-opioid receptors than naloxone. It will always outcompete naloxone at the receptors no matter how you take it. Myself as well as many others can confirm this first hand. It's literally just there for patent purposes and doctors continue to fall for it.
In Poland they use substitution therapy with methadone. But you cannot get it at a pharmacy, you can only get it at a special hospital (of which there's just not enough) and only for that day (so ya have to ride there everyday).
There's pilot projects doing exactly this in various countries, including Switzerland and Germany. Patients can just go in there twice a day, they get a clean rig filled with pharmaceutical grade h and shoot up right there. This approach demonstrably works better than methadone clinics in all relevant metrics (number of ODs, likelyness of achieving full abstinence at some point, criminal activity, development of social and economic situation of the addict etc.). Still, governments refuse to expand the program because "it would send the wrong message to people".
Yeah, Methadone clinics are fucking horrible in the United States. The rules you need to follow are basically designed to set you up to fail because they make the process of getting Methadone in many cases more ridiculous than just staying on street Heroin. Gotta show up to the clinic every single day just to dose. Usually it's not gonna be near where you live because suburban yuppies don't want to be reminded of the real world. Got a job you need to go to? Fuck you. Also don't get fired, because this shit can be expensive. Weed helps with your anxiety? Also fuck you, that's a drug.
I mean holy shit, just give them the methadone, who cares if they sell it. Better that than having them risk it everyday with street Fentanyl laced Heroin.
Buprenorphine has much looser restrictions, and it works wonders. I go to a free clinic every other month to get a prescription for 8 weeks of medication, and they allow much more leniency when it comes to failed drug tests as long as you test positive for Buprenorphine. My doctor is chill, and even gave me the naloxone free generic version because it's only a third the cost. Just use this model for medical Heroin and Methadone. It literally can not be worse than what we are doing right now.
EDIT: Wanted to expand on Suboxone, the Buprenorphine/Naloxone mixed medication. This shit is much more expensive than regular Buprenorphine, and the justification for it having Naloxone in it is it discourages abuse by injection. The pharma companies that produce it claim the Naloxone will induce precipitated withdrawals when used in routes of administration not intended, i.e ways of taking it other than under the tongue. However, this is not true. Buprenorphine has a higher binding affinity to mu-opioid receptors than naloxone. It will always outcompete naloxone at the receptors no matter how you take it. Myself as well as many others can confirm this first hand. It's literally just there for patent purposes and doctors continue to fall for it.
In Poland they use substitution therapy with methadone. But you cannot get it at a pharmacy, you can only get it at a special hospital (of which there's just not enough) and only for that day (so ya have to ride there everyday).