Pubdate: Sat, 07 Oct 2000
Source: Detroit Free Press (MI)
Copyright: 2000 Detroit Free Press
Contact:  http://www.freep.com/
Forum: http://www.freep.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX

DETROIT HELPS GET A NEW TREATMENT GOING

When history makes a list of the many things that have come from Detroit to 
benefit the nation, buprenorphine may not be among them. Who cares about 
making the world a better place for heroin addicts?

But just one junkie can devastate a family; heroin traffic can destroy a 
neighborhood; nasty needles spread disease, including AIDS; desperate 
addicts lie, cheat and steal to pay for a fix; dealers live high on the 
misery; taxpayers spend millions in futile efforts to destroy the system.

Buprenorphine is the newest weapon in the anti-heroin arsenal. After a 
two-year struggle, Congress has just passed legislation sponsored by U.S. 
Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that, with President 
Bill Clinton's promised signature, will enable certified doctors to begin 
prescribing it.

The drug has been widely and successfully used to treat heroin addiction in 
France but was viewed skeptically by U.S. drug regulators until research in 
Detroit proved convincing. Dr. Charles Schuster, former director of the 
National Institute on Drug Abuse, was recruited by Wayne State University 
to run a treatment and research clinic where the drug was tested. A patient 
from the clinic, thriving on buprenorphine after 14 years of destructive 
heroin addiction, was among the most persuasive witnesses to testify before 
Congress.

In layman's terms, buprenorphine is a blocker. It satisfies the body's need 
for heroin but prevents the high. Schuster views it as easier for an addict 
to manage than participating in a methadone program, which might require 
periodic visits to a licensed clinic. One of the hopes for buprenorphine is 
that its availability will encourage more addicts to seek treatment.

Passage of the legislation reflects diligence and persistence by Schuster 
and Levin.

Properly dispensed and coupled with drug counseling, buprenorphine can 
enable an addict to live a fairly normal life while emerging from the 
nightmare wrought by heroin. Over a period of months, the addict can be weaned.

Buprenorphine will never be Detroit's claim to fame. But it has enormous 
potential to salvage some wretched souls in search of freedom from their 
self-imposed prison.
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