The International Center 
for Advencement of Addiction Treatment website

Summary

Considerable evidence indicates a gratifying reduction in the use of heroin in France, and major associated benefits to the general community. This improvement clearly seems related to the massive expansion of opiate-agonist based treatment; the fact that such expansion was possible (development within 4-5 years of the ability to accommodate some 80,000 users!) is itself an encouraging message to other countries (including the United States) seeking to control opiate addiction and its medical and social consequences. The overwhelming reliance on prescribing by generalist, community-based physicians (rather than specialized « programs ») seems to have been a sine qua non of the favorable French experience in recent years. And finally, disparate rules and regulations governing the use of the specific medications to treat heroin addiction preclude reliance on evidence-based medicine to guide the medical profession in its treatment of this illness.