This polarized look at heroin use further stigmatizes drug users and leads to those with problems (and casual users who are having trouble not letting it get out of hand) not getting the help they deserve.
"responsible heroin use" is probably the stupidest phrase I've heard all day, and I've been watching CNN.
EDIT: And, by the way, calling a spade a spade and naming heroin as the scourge it is is not stigmatizing users.
To say heroin and alcohol/tobacco are equivalent would be stupid. To say an addition to heroin has no similarities to an addition to alcohol/tobacco would also be stupid.
Indeed, with proper dosage long term recreational use of heroin is far less likely to cause lasting damage than alcohol or tobacco.
Deaths per year from Heroin: 13,000
Deaths per year from Alcohol: 88,000
Deaths per year from Tobacco: 440,000
Hmm...
It doesn't sound like you have any experience with drugs or medicine outside of what you learned in D.A.R.E.
I do agree that easy access to powerful opiates is a recipe for disaster for people at risk for suicide. And I concede that the danger of a negative feedback loop is obvious.