Drinking issue at Dartmouth!

mini
Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:12:50 +0000

“Heroin addiction is iatrogenic? I don’t think so. Heroin is not in the same drug schedule as morphine and other opiates.”

The heroin addiction we are currently seeing is iatrogenic. More than half the injection drug users we are now seeing at needle exchanges were utilizing prescription-type opiates prior to using heroin. Many of them became addicted by doctors who really didn’t know how to prescribe opiates for pain safely. Others became addicted because doctors (and dentists) were prescribing 5x-20x as many opiates as were needed, or prescribing when no opiate painkillers were needed at all, and the pills found their way to kids or directly into the market.

There are heroin maintenance programs in Switzerland and in England, diamorphine programs in the Netherlands, and controlled heroin programs in Vancouver and Montreal.

Here’s a good story about an OxFree ED system. They are becoming more common all the time: