Supervised injectable heroin treatment is expensive but cost effective, report says

Medicinal heroin is being used successfully in several countries as a second line treatment for chronic heroin users previously considered untreatable, says a new report from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.

The report describes the treatment as “an important clinical step forward” and provides an overview of research on the subject setting out evidence and clinical experience gained in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, countries where supervised injectable heroin treatment is legally available to long term, refractory opioid users. In Spain and Canada it may be used in research trials.

Presenting the report, Wolfgang Götz, the centre’s …