Maintenance drugs are usually legal and tend to have less side-effects. This allows the addicted to focus on the underlying issue and then, once that is solved

Maintenance drugs are usually legal and tend to have less side-effects. This allows the addicted to focus on the underlying issue and then, once that is solved go through withdrawal. There has been a fairly interesting experiment in northern Germany a few years ago that handed out medical grade heroin to heavily addicted people. The results were pretty good, people were highly functional. Often the side effects of the addiction- having to organize drugs (and money for drugs), infections from used needles, additives in the drugs, breakdown of the social support network etc. are much worse than the actual drug. Giving substitutes, even allowing legal access to drugs helps removing those hindrances. Drug policy is just weird.