The heroin trial failure

A report of a recent heroin prescription trial in Britain published in the Lancet (29th May 2010) was widely promoted as a success. The fact is that for a very costly intervention a surprisingly small minority got off street heroin.

Of the 43 clients that received a heroin dosage of 450mg twice a day plus a nightly oral methadone supplement over a 26 week period, just 5 of them managed to get off street heroin. Hardly a measure of success, writes Anders Ulstein for EURAD (Europe Against Drugs)