‘People rot from the inside out’: lethal xylazine deepens the US drug crisis(ft.com)
ft.com
‘People rot from the inside out’: lethal xylazine deepens the US drug crisis
https://www.ft.com/content/e73a5438-0213-4d59-9987-eee4a4127c71
https://www.ft.com/content/e73a5438-0213-4d59-9987-eee4a4127c71
“If we restrict access to xylazine, what’s next, you know? Drug dealers are never going to stop coming up with something to sell,” said Beddis. “Instead, we should learn more about this drug, introduce new protocols for treating people and try to get ahead of the problem.”
That argument also applies to heroin. Fentanyl was the “next” for heroin.
I know it won’t fly in the USA, but I think a sensible policy would be to try and get addicts on heroin and, where possible, from there to methadone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin-assisted_treatment:
“a type of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) where semi-synthetic heroin is prescribed to opiate addicts who do not benefit from, or cannot tolerate, treatment with one of the established drugs used in opiate replacement therapy such as methadone or buprenorphine (brand name Subutex). For this group of patients, heroin-assisted treatment has proven superior in improving their social and health situation. It has also been shown to save money, as it significantly reduces costs incurred by trials, incarceration, health interventions and delinquency. It has also drastically reduced overdose deaths in the countries utilizing it, as patients take their dose in a controlled, professionally supervised setting, and Narcan (naloxone) is on hand in the case of an accidental overdose.”