With a pilot project to launch giving heroin addicts free drugs, the debate is divided between those who think it will reduce harm versus those who think it will increase drug use.

The program is called the North American Opiate Injection Trial, or NAOMI. It will start in March.

The program will take place in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto and will serve about 470 people with about half getting prescription heroin and the other half methadone.

Part of the $8-million, one-year program's purpose will be to compare it to methadone, the current drug used to help addicts beat their addiction.

"We're going to be prescribing heroin for them to inject, therefore they won't have to commit crimes to obtain resources to buy drugs," said Dr. David Marsh of Toronto.

However, a former addict turned counsellor is skeptical.

"I don't see the point," said Rodrigue Pare of Montreal. "How can somebody rehabilitate himself if we give him heroin."

However, that's exactly what happened in Switzerland and the Netherlands with great success. Crime has dropped there, along with the number of addicts.

Psychologist Peter Vamos is supportive of the idea but worries vital counselling is missing.

"Maintaining someone in their addiction by giving them heroin but at the same time not providing them anything more than that is a dis-service."

The Toronto clinic is planning to build a counseling component into its program, according to media reports.

The most drug-ravaged neighborhood in Canada is the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, where it's not unusual to look down an alleyway and see an addict shooting up.

Drug overdoses kill 147 Vancouver residents on average each year and intravenous drug users face high HIV infection rates. To combat the latter, the city is opening Canada's first supervised injection site.

An empty storefront in the neighborhood was the location of choice for Vancouver's free-heroin clinic, but it's near a school, a daycare and a housing project for recovering addicts. This is causing some friction.

"We are working very diligently, encouraging people to get away from these controlling substances, and now there's a test project bringing those controlling substances right onto our doorsteps," said David Ryttersgaard, who operates Recovery House.