After getting green light from the politicians started The Netherlands – encouraged by the positive results of the Swiss experiment with medical prescription of heroin to Swiss drug addicts – a similar experiment in 1998. The authors cover on the basis of the Dutch literature the results of this experiment. The group of heroin addicts getting methadon with heroin achieved better results than the group using only methadon. The results were statictically significant as measured in all three areas: psychical, somatic and social.

Key words: heroin – medical prescription – The Netherlands