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Heroin-assisted treatment , or diamorphine assisted treatment, refers to a type of Medication-Assisted Treatment where semi-synthetic heroin is prescribed to opiate addicts who do not benefit from, or cannot tolerate, treatment with one of the established drugs used in opiate replacement therapy such as methadone or buprenorphine. For this group of patients, heroin-assisted treatment has proven superior in improving their social and health situation. It has also been shown to save money, as it significantly reduces costs incurred by trials, incarceration, health interventions and delinquency. It has also drastically reduced overdose deaths in the countries utilizing it, as patients take their dose in a controlled, professionally supervised setting, and Narcan is on hand in the case of an accidental overdose. Opiate related overdoses in the U.S. kill around 70,000 people per year.
Heroin-assisted treatment is fully a part of the national health system in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, and Denmark. Additional trials are being carried out in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Belgium.