This is the one-sided policy that attempts to reduce consumption of illicit drugs by reducing supply through interdiction and incarceration. The war is being waged by policy makers, law enforcement and the military throughout the world.
Prohibition has the effect of demonising heroin and dehumanising heroin users.
Objections to limited, scientific attempts to obtain information for rational debate about the best, least harmful method of integrating heroin and other opium use into our society eventually derive from the absolute need to defend the essentially untenable position of prohibition. Such objections have been vigorously raised about the proposed ACT trial. Were the proponents of prohibition sure of their position, they would have nothing to lose from such trials, which could adduce only further evidence of the need to direct every effort towards abstinence. On the other hand, objections to the proposed methods of the trial need careful consideration. Objections that the trial will not answer multiple questions about heroin use and treatment overlook the specificity of its aims.