Heroin Addiction Treatment Help-Line: 1-866-851-1619
Heroin Background Data:

Drug control in Britain was established between 1910 and 1930, with a solid grounding in public health and medical practice. This British approach to drug problems as public-health problems seemed especially attractive as an alternative to U.S. drug prohibition policies, even when the heroin problem in the United States was relatively small, back before 1960. Thus, beginning in the late 1940s, some Americans started to advocate the use of the British system in the United States—that is, a nonpunitive, public-health approach to the treatment of drug dependence, especially dependence on heroin.

In 1960, the drug problem was essentially a non-issue in the political life of Britain, although the structures for control in the two countries remained very different. In the United States, a prohibitionist policy continued in place whereby criminal penalties were imposed for heroin possession and use—and sometimes for being addicted to heroin. Physicians rarely treated opiate addicts and could not legally provide a known addict with opiates on a maintenance basis. As a result, from early in the twentieth century, virtually all heroin addicts purchased supplies from illegal heroin sellers. With the exception of a brief time during which maintenance programs were available, relatively few addicts sought drug treatment from doctors, and treatment for heroin dependence often was available only at two federal narcotic hospitals and select public and private facilities. In NEW YORK and CALIFORNIA, in particular, large numbers of heroin abusers were arrested and imprisoned for heroin sales, for possession, or for other crimes sometimes committed to gain funds to purchase illegal heroin (e.g., robbery, burglary).

In contrast, by 1960, Britain had had many years of experience with a "medical" or "public-health" policy for controlling heroin and opiates (originating with the ROLLESTON REPORT of 1926). Fewer than 100 heroin addicts and fewer than 500 abusers of all drugs were known in Britain in 1960. Persons identified by a doctor as being addicted to heroin or other dangerous drugs could be (and usually were) treated by a private practitioner. The physician was required to notify the Home Office of the names of the addicts but was at liberty to prescribe heroin or opiates for them in any amounts for long time periods. Their treatment became funded by the National Health Service after World War II, like any other medical service. No other treatment (at a clinic, hospital, or nonmedical facility) was available. Penalties for the illegal sale of heroin or opiates carried sanctions of less than a year and were rarely imposed. Few British prisoners were heroin addicts.

British drug policy has been and continues to be set primarily by Home Office staff in collaboration with leading physicians and addiction specialists. British law-enforcement and criminal-justice practitioners were largely excluded from policymaking—whereas their counterparts in the United States have a primary role in formulating American drug policy. Following the Rolleston precedent, several special committees issued reports establishing the basic directions of British drug policy. The first Brain Committee (1958) reaffirmed the Rolleston recommendation to provide heroin and allow maintenance doses of opiates; it opposed U.S.-sponsored proposals to prohibit heroin manufacture in Britain.

  • heroin overdose deaths on the rise
  • BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Police and doctors believe a local resurgence ...

  • Read More...
  • Man Gets Prison Time For Selling Sugar As Heroin
  • LEBANON, Pa. -- A Lebanon County man was stunned Wednesday ...

  • Read More...
  • Heroin Problem Is Not New To Drug Culture Insiders
  • It has been in the headlines. Last month three Newtown ...

  • Read More...
  • Cops bust heroin dealers
  • JEWETT CITY -- Borough warden Cynthia Kata readily admits she ...

  • Read More...
  • Man sentenced on heroin charge
  • Darryl Winkfield was just looking for someone to give him ...

  • Read More...
  • Pakistan warns of surging heroin supply
  • ISLAMABAD : A senior Pakistan official on Monday claimed that ...

  • Read More...
  • Cops: Heroin, cocaine seized in 2 busts
  • In separate drug busts, Jersey City East and West District ...

  • Read More...
 Fugitive accused of driving with kids in car after taking cocaine.
MIDDLESEX COUNTY,New Jersey —A man charged with child endangerment and possession of cocaine after allegedly ...
 WC meth lab busted
On Saturday, July 19, 2008, Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputies and investigators, as part of ...
 Home meth lab explodes
BROKEN ARROW - Two Broken Arrowans have been arrested in connection with the fire; a ...
 Indictments returned against neighborhood’s meth-making suspects
A Palo Pinto County Grand Jury indicted 10 individuals Wednesday on 10 charges, including five ...
 Couple in prison for meth lab
CASSOPOLIS - Two methamphetamine lab operators were put behind prison bars on Friday morning in ...
 Young man stole stereos to pay for his methadone habit
SOMERSWORTH - The thought of getting arrested for shoplifting didn�t enter 22-year-old Chris�s mind when ...
 Front line in the fight against heroin addiction
SEABROOK - Paramedic Kevin Janvrin has found them parked in cars outside local stores, in ...
 Escaping the clutches of heroin addiction
SOMERSWORTH - Terri Provencher, a 39-year-old mother and recovering heroin addict from Seabrook, has tried ...
 Drugs Heroin
Mexico Drug Growers Switching to Heroin Monday April 21, 2003 6:49 AM TLAPA DE COMONFORT, Mexico ...
 Parents confront heroin nightmare
By David Wecker Post staff reporter In an extraordinary meeting marked with heated accusations, frustration and ...
 Heroin Addiction
She was the hardest worker they knew. Melissa Lockovitch toiled the 2-10 p.m. shift as ...
 DEA Dismantels Heroin Traffic
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Guillermo Gil, U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico ...
End of LiveChat code -->