Twentieth-century events clearly demonstrated that simply making heroin illegal was not enough to eliminate the demand for the drug in the United States. Nor have the best efforts of the nation's legislators, law enforcement officials, and diplomats abroad been enough to keep resourceful heroin traffickers from supplying this demand. Thus, a method of effectively eliminating the demand for the drug has long been sought by public health officials and medical experts. Finding such a method, however, has been exceedingly difficult because the causes of heroin abuse have proven to be numerous and complex.

Differing Opinions on Heroin Prevention

Opinions differ in the United States on what causes the problem of drug abuse in general, and heroin abuse in particular, and these opinions have resulted in a variety of approaches to prevention.

"The approaches based on these opinions have developed through recent decades...