Heroin should be legalized for end-of-life care

Re: Dr. W. Gifford Jones’ article “My number is 18924 and I’m mad as hell,” which appeared in the March 4 edition of Northern Life.

Dr. Gifford-Jones’ article discusses end-of-life care. The item I remember seeing in your paper about 20 years ago, also from him, is the wish that heroin be legalized for terminal cancer patients.

This time, he has explored the cocktail available to such patients in England. No rise in criminal activity happened when the legalization occurred there. It has been available at least since the last time he wrote.

As someone who has seen three people in my family die of cancer, and another still suffering from it, I have seen that pain control, even the best available in the city, is not infallibly comforting.

I am with Gifford-Jones — a legalization of heroin (a proven-reliable pain reliever in England), should happen in Canada, instead of allowing our suffering loved ones settle for less reliable end-of-life comfort.

Lois Clement
Greater Sudbury