> but these aren't things that should be legal and accessible for people to start using.
Then impose a full ban on alcohol as well? It's about as addictive and ranks higher in danger to health than heroin. And it's pretty much freely available to any adult. Well, the US tried, it didn't work out all too well.
When addictive substances are illegal they're more accessible than when they're managed appropriately.
Johann Hari tells in Chasing the Scream about a city in the UK that used to have a legal heroin program. Addiction rates were a fraction of the rate of a nearby city with similar economic prospects. The difference was that the addicts who lived under prohibition had to advertise to their friends to support their habit.
Patients who could get what they needed from the NHS had no need to promote heroin/cocaine/etc to their friends.
I've noticed a lot of people on HN are for all drugs being legalized, but they look at it from the perspective of fairly wealthy and highly educated tech workers with stable lifestyles. Coming from a small town in the rust belt where people struggle to even imagine a future, heroin is way too easy of an escape.
I think helping people who've become addicted is good, but these aren't things that should be legal and accessible for people to start using.