Graphic guide to injecting heroin causes controversy in New York

5 Jan, 2010 18:13 / Updated 14 years ago

New York City's health department has come under fire after it published a step-by-step guide to injecting heroin. Reports say it cost the city $35,000 to release the graphic 16-page pamphlet.

Issued with the best intentions – aimed at keeping drug addicts as healthy as possible in their precarious situation – it drew heavy criticism instead.

The US Justice Department’s Drug Enforcement Administration even dubbed it a “step-by-step instruction on how to inject a poison.”