Results: Tellwut Top Picks! Should doctors prescribe heroin to curb opioid deaths?

Last year, the Public Health Agency of Canada says that 4,460 Canadians died from an opioid overdose. The vast majority of the deaths were accidental. A new and controversial Canadian guideline for front-line health-care workers was published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. Experts are hoping the guideline will help to stem the tide. The most controversial part of the guideline is what to do for those in whom oral opioids prescribed by an addiction physician fail to control cravings and withdrawal symptoms. In that case, the guideline states that injectable heroin or hydromorphone should be considered. The rationale for giving these patients injectable heroin or hydromorphone is so they don't buy opioids on the street.