That would be utterly insane. A large part of the problem with heroin is that it consumes addicts lives to get hold of money for it, and to get hold of the drug

That would be utterly insane. A large part of the problem with heroin is that it consumes addicts lives to get hold of money for it, and to get hold of the drug itself. Last I heard, a typical daily dose of medical grade heroin/diamorphine costs 10-20 pounds from the NHS's existing suppliers (yes, the NHS has suppliers - heroin is used in NHS hospitals for pain management; if you've ever been prescribed diamorphine, it's heroin). All but the very worst affected heroin addicts can lead relatively normal lives if they don't need to worry where their dose will come from. There are significant societal benefits to prescribing heroin as cheaply as possible.