It all depends on whether (and how long) the big players (Pharma, etc.) can profit off of it. Case-in-point: we're starting to treat heroin dependence with a d

It all depends on whether (and how long) the big players (Pharma, etc.) can profit off of it. Case-in-point: we're starting to treat heroin dependence with a drug that is just as recreationally potent, and has similar risk of overdose[0], when we could just easily be treating it with heroin itself (diacetylmorphine maintenance[1]). Currently, buprenorphine is the "right" drug to be addicted to, but even its makers started advertising its high addictive potential (in an attempt to push their new "safer" version, which is still under patent protection and therefore more profitable[2]). At some point, we can only imagine that Reckitt Benckiser (the makers) will have milked as much as they can out of the drug, and we will declare buprenorphine a "bad" drug to be addicted to, just like heroin, and treat its addiction with the latest shiny, new drug. We've seen this cycle many, many times. In fact, it's worth mentioning here that the word "heroin" was originally a Bayer trademark[3]. It was a cough suppressant invented as a "safer" over-the-counter substitute for the recreational bogeyman of the time: morphine. How times change! (By the way, I recognize that buprenorphine can be very helpful in treatment. this is not to say that buprenorphine is either right or wrong for everyone, just that the laws and policies that we construct around these drugs often represent financial interests more than they represent scientific or medical facts.) [0] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/health/in-demand-in-clinics-and-on-the-street-bupe-can-be-savior-or-menace.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/17/health/in-demand-in-clinic... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin-assisted_treatment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin-assisted_treatment [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreening https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreening [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin#Etymology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin#Etymology