Clamour grows for heroin on the NHS

Experts call for national network of 'shooting galleries' after hailing successful trials

A group of government-appointed drug experts will call for a nationwide network of "shooting galleries" to provide injectable heroin for hardened drug addicts across the country. A pioneering trial programme prescribing heroin to long-term addicts has shown "major benefits" in cutting crime and reducing street sales of drugs. Results of the programme are to be presented at a conference in London tomorrow. An expert group set up by the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse to assess the programme has concluded that the approach should be adopted nationwide. The prescription of heroin to hardened addicts is one of the most controversial in medicine. Giving addicts drugs such as heroin on a maintenance basis, rather than weaning them off them, turns existing policy on its head and presents a challenge to ministers... Independent