A British view of prescribing pharmaceutical heroin to opiate addicts: a critique of the "heroin solution" with special reference to the Piccadilly and Kensington market drug scenes in London.

Using data derived from the London drug subculture, this study evaluates a suggestion that has become a source of recent international discussion, namely that as a means of solving the "heroin problem" and organized crime's involvement in it, pharmaceutical heroin should be prescribed legally to opiate addicts. It concludes that if the "heroin solution" were implemented in London this policy would have a number of negative unintended consequences. It would not undercut the illicitly manufactured heroin market to any extent but would most probably lead as well to a rapid and substantial increase in the numbers of pharmaceutical heroin users in Britain. This examination also indicates the need to evaluate the "heroin solution" before it is introduced into other countries, in the light of issues examined in this analysis.