How Prescription Heroin Is Saving Lives

published on September 12, 2023 by Michelle Gamage in The Tyee

Crosstown Clinic patient Michel has used opiates for 30 years. His addiction to heroin, he says, drove him to use “alternative methods to get money, like criminal activity.”

Six years ago, exhausted by the lifestyle he was leading, Michel joined Crosstown as a patient and began accessing prescription injectable heroin.

“It worked from day one,” he says. “There was immediate relief from the daily grind all addicts go through — it felt like freedom.”

Providence Health Authority’s Crosstown Clinic in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside offers a range of treatments for opioid use disorder, including opioid agonist therapy, medical care and wraparound services with social workers and counsellors…