Health officials said the program is aimed at curbing the rising number of fatal heroin overdoses. "There is a chronic problem here," said Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, Baltimore health commissioner. "A significant number of people are dying each year from heroin overdoses -- in one year, more than the homicide rate -- and while this may be viewed as enabling, this is a worthwhile attempt to keep people alive."

Under the program, vials of the drug Narcan would be distributed to heroin users, who will receive training from emergency-services and health officials. Narcan is used in the medical community to treat opium-based narcotics overdoses.

In the past four years, more than 1,000 people have died from heroin overdoses in Baltimore. Last year, officials said 109 people died from heroin overdoses in Baltimore County.

Critics of the program said it sends the message that addicted individuals can use as much heroin as desired.

"The Narcan program sanctions heroin addiction," said Michael W. Gimbel, former director of Baltimore County's bureau of substance abuse and a former heroin addict. "It's like the city has given up."

But Tony Tommasello, director of the Office of Substance Abuse at the University of Maryland's School of Pharmacy, said innovative measures are needed to reduce the high number of heroin-related deaths in the city.

"Lots of things could go wrong with Narcan in the hands of heroin addicts," he said. "But naloxone is a terrific drug and it has saved countless lives, and while there are lots of questions, the only way to answer them is test it."

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