Oscar Scaggs' death clearly hit home with Smith, who has four children, ages 17 to 24. My son was holding my wife yesterday as she was crying over Oscar's death. He said heroin dealers have learned how to attract customers by flooding the market with the cheap, potent product. Once people are hooked, the dealers can cut it and raise the prices. Just like the tobacco industry, it's in a very immoral way marketed to youth.
Quitting heroin is extremely hard, and few people manage it successfully.
Instead, many experts believe in methadone maintenance as a way to keep addicts' cravings at bay, allowing them to return to somewhat normal lives. However, methadone is strictly regulated by the federal government and is only available to about 2,000 addicts here. Supervisor Gavin Newsom has led The City's legislative effort to win federal approval for a sweeping methadone access waiver that would be the single largest program of its kind in the country. Unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors last February, the waiver would allow private physicians in The City to dispense the medicine. A 25-member panel of physicians, city health officials and other experts hopes to complete a detailed proposal for federal drug officials by March.