Should initial treatments fail, chronic heroin addicts in Canada can now receive the drug on prescription, thanks to a recent change in the country's regulation.
Pharmaceutical grade heroin — also known as diacetylmorphine — will be accessible to patients who have not responded to traditional methods of treatment, according to new rules from Health Canada, which took effect last week.
Health Canada, the country's national health department, has reversed the laws previously imposed by the former government, which banned heroin prescription in 2013. The recent move is expected to strengthen the operations of special clinics that perform heroin-assisted treatments.
Requests for diacetylmorphine will be approved on a case-to-case basis by the government's Special Access Program, according to the new rules.
Patients who request the drug shall be supervised by medical staff in administering the substance via syringe. Furthermore, pharmaceutical grade heroin can only be prescribed to patients with severe heroin addictions.
Illegal heroin is dangerous because most of the substance that users purchase can be of unknown strength, while using syringes to inject the illegal drug carries the risk of spreading blood-borne diseases, including hepatitis and HIV.
Across the world, opium addiction is one of the major concerns in public health. In Canada, the regulation comes at a time when the number of opium overdoses is on the rise.
Although not all Canadian provinces monitor overdose deaths, British Columbia officials have recorded at least 433 cases of drug overdose deaths between January and July.
The rate is a 75 percent surge from 2015, based on statistics from the British Columbia Coroners Service. What's more, approximately 62 percent of the drug overdoses involved the opioid fentanyl.
This is why lawmakers hope that the regulations will prevent deaths from heroin overdoses and help patients take control of their lives for the better.
Terry Lake, British Columbia's health minister, said he is happy to see the new regulations because it presents a healthier approach to the issue.
Lake believes the new regulations indicate a willingness on behalf of the government to look at the problem of addiction as a health-based issue, instead of being a crime-based issue.
The new regulation also isn't limiting the range of available treatment options because there isn't "one size" that fits all the situations, he added.
Past studies have shown that treatment with diacetylmorphine can help patients who have failed other treatments. A 2009 study in Canada discovered that severe heroin addiction patients were more likely to remain with their treatment and less likely to resort to illegal drug use if they received pharmaceutical grade heroin.
Photo: Nathan Forget | Flickr
