DRUG addicts should be prescribed heroin on the NHS, a nursing leader said yesterday.

Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said giving heroin on the NHS would drive down crime rates and help wean addicts off the drug.

Speaking in a personal capacity following a debate on the issue at the RCN’s annual conference, he said: “I do believe in heroin prescribing. People who are addicted so often resort to crime, to buy the heroin.

“It obviates the need for them to steal.

“It might take a few years but I think people will understand.

“If you are going to get people off heroin then in the initial stages we have to have proper heroin prescribing services.

“Critics say you are encouraging drug addiction but the reality is that these people are addicts and they are going to do it anyway.”

Results of NHS pilot studies in London, Brighton and Darlington show that allowing users injections under medical supervision can cut local crime rates by two thirds.

Of 127 users involved in the pilots, three-quarters “substantially reduced” their use of street drugs, while their spending on drugs fell from £300 to £50 a week.