[Note, I support complete decriminalization / legalization, but this is much better than what the US is doing now.]
"There is so much controversy any time a so-called "progressive" approach to drugs is attempted in Britain—from safe consumption facilities to medical cannabis for suffering children—that the idea of people being prescribed heroin, rather than even methadone, to manage their addiction seems almost fantastical. Yet, Lisa is one of the last remaining remnants of a foundational tradition in British drug policy. The practice of prescribing heroin to manage addiction was originally invented in the UK—and was so entrenched here that it was formally known in international policy circles as the "British System". Throughout the early 20th century, as America began forcing its War on Drugs on the rest of the world, it was Britain that represented the most promising alternative model. The story of the British System, and of how it was dismantled under American pressure, has been all but forgotten. It shouldn't be. This story illuminates not only fascinating truths about drug policy, but about entire liberal traditions in British political history."
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yw4nnk/how-the-us-stopped-a-possible-solution-to-the-heroin-epidemic
"There is so much controversy any time a so-called "progressive" approach to drugs is attempted in Britain—from safe consumption facilities to medical cannabis for suffering children—that the idea of people being prescribed heroin, rather than even methadone, to manage their addiction seems almost fantastical. Yet, Lisa is one of the last remaining remnants of a foundational tradition in British drug policy. The practice of prescribing heroin to manage addiction was originally invented in the UK—and was so entrenched here that it was formally known in international policy circles as the "British System". Throughout the early 20th century, as America began forcing its War on Drugs on the rest of the world, it was Britain that represented the most promising alternative model. The story of the British System, and of how it was dismantled under American pressure, has been all but forgotten. It shouldn't be. This story illuminates not only fascinating truths about drug policy, but about entire liberal traditions in British political history."
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yw4nnk/how-the-us-stopped-a-possible-solution-to-the-heroin-epidemic