According to the Washington Post,

The Canadian government has quietly approved new drug regulations that will permit doctors to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade heroin to treat severe addicts who have not responded to more conventional approaches.

In an ideal world, heroin and other opioids would be fully legal, but medicalizing at least helps users avoid street heroin that is adulterated or much stronger than advertised (e.g., because it’s laced with fentanyl, an even more potent opioid). The adulterated, stronger-than-advertised samples are the main cause of adverse health effects, not heroin per se.

Also,

In April, the Trudeau government announced plans to legalize the sale of marijuana by next year, and it has appointed a task force to determine how marijuana will be regulated, sold and taxed.

Maybe the U.S. can learn something about drug policy from its neighbors to the North.