in certain city streets, medical professionals behind the scenes are calling for more progressive treatment options, such as safe-use sites and replacement medicines, which they argue are more effective than classic rehabilitation protocols.
In Vancouver, British Columbia, all hard drugs have been decriminalized when found in small amounts. In 2021, New York City opened the nation's first supervised drug injection sites, and Rhode Island became the first state to pass legislation to legalize safe injection sites. Singer said the fear of facing aggressive withdrawals upon stopping the use of opioids can be a major obstacle to regaining control of one's life. Drugs methadone and buprenorphine are both approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat opioid use disorder by binding the opioid receptors from craving the normal version of the drug without giving the patient the euphoric feeling associated with being high.
"All of a sudden, you have a lot of time on your hands," Singer said."Something like Methadone or Buprenorphine works at least to stabilize your life so that you can get to what makes you feel compelled to this behavior in the first place."
Couldn't they smuggle them into China? It worked with opium.