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Addictions appear everywhere, mutate, transform with new products and behaviors, playing on our painstaking efforts to try to control them. Drawn into this current, the impression that dominates invites more to understand and to coax rather than to fight. Addictions are our condition, let's deal with it, rather than fight against them. It is therefore a question of knowing the products, that everyone can identify their level of risk, and of giving as many tools as possible, at any age, whatever the behavior or the product. This article shows us that there is a lot to do, from school benches to liver transplantation. There is also a lot to discover, in the recognition of the therapeutic virtues, of cannabinoids for example or even in their prescription, of pharmaceutical heroin for example, sometimes by far the best option.

For the first time, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has addressed the issue of whether persons with a heroin dependence syndrome in custodial settings are entitled to receive opioid agonist treatment (OAT). The court relied on Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture as well as inhuman or degrading treatment. It concluded that member states of the Council of Europe that refuse access to OAT have the burden of proving that an alternative medical approach would, in the case of an individual patient, be as effective as OAT. Such proof needs to be based on an independent medical opinion. This paper discusses the scope and limitations of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment.

For the first time, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has addressed the issue of whether persons with a heroin dependence syndrome in custodial settings are entitled to receive opioid agonist treatment (OAT). The court relied on Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture as well as inhuman or degrading treatment. It concluded that member states of the Council of Europe that refuse access to OAT have the burden of proving that an alternative medical approach would, in the case of an individual patient, be as effective as OAT. Such proof needs to be based on an independent medical opinion. This paper discusses the scope and limitations of the European Court of Human Rights' judgment.