President Richard Nixon permitted methadone as a treatment for heroin addiction, which plagued many soldiers returning from the Vietnam War. By the late 1970s, federally regulated methadone clinics were popping up around the country. These clinics quietly showed how a narcotic might be dispensed legally in a safe, crime-free environment. Methadone stabilized an addict and allowed him to find a job and repair damaged relationships. There were also no dirty needles, no crime, and addicts knew they couldn’t be robbed at the clinics. What’s more, methadone undercut and replaced the street heroin
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