Ribeye - have you come across "Junk Medicine" by Theodore Dalrymple ? One of the great myths is how difficult it is to come off heroin - yet nobody has ever died from it, or even suffers very severe withdrawal symptoms [unlike the far more serious DTs experienced during withdrawal from alcohol]. Physiologically withdrawal symptoms from heroin are said to comparable to having the flu [muscle aches, cramps, sweaty, etc] - but not much more. Deaths during heroin detox are only ever the result of medical intervention to ameliorate symptoms [i.e. are iatrogenic] As Dalrymple says, would any decent person rob a house, or mug somebody to avoid having the flu for a few days ? Interestingly, Dalrymple also asserts the majority of heroin addicts have a criminal record long before the make a CHOICE to spend their existence in pursuit of drugs. Incidentally, I agree with Dalrymple's contention that the "treatment bureaucracy" tends to perpetuate rather than improve the problem - certainly the number of heroin addicts has risen massively over the last three decades.