How does the law deal with heroin users?

How does the law deal with heroin users?

Michael Jourdan (Drug Researcher) gives expert video advice on: Is heroin illegal everywhere in the world?; How does the US Controlled Substances Act classify heroin?; When did heroin become illegal in the US? and more...

Well, the law has a very restrictive view towards people who use heroin. It constitutes a crime, but how harsh punishment is varies very much from place to place and from time to time. The general tendency is getting tougher and tougher on people who use heroin, heightening the sentences, but there are also countertrends which will voice the concern that people who use heroin are more sick than they are criminals, so it should be a case for the health care system more than the jails and that has opened the door to phenomena such as drug courts where people who are actually facing a jail sentence can go into treatment instead. In Denmark, which is the country I come from, we have treatment inside jails. It's not mandatory in any way but people who have gone to jail can get into treatment as well. So it depends where, it depends when.