Pubdate: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 Source: Hour Magazine (CN QU) Copyright: 2005, Communications Voir Inc. Contact: http://www.hour.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/971 Author: Charlie McKenzie Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/North+American+Opiate+Medication+Initiative Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?131 (Heroin Maintenance) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Safe Injecting Rooms) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John) DRUG FIX Help for the hopeless: New program to wean users off heroin Heroin addiction is hell on earth, but help for a select handful of Montreal's hardcore heroin users is finally on the way. After years of preparation, the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) is finally underway in Vancouver and coming soon to Toronto and Montreal. The $8-million, 21-month clinical trial will determine whether heroin-assisted therapy can help those who've not been helped by other treatments. The idea of treating heroin addiction as a sickness and not a crime is new only to North America. For years, similar European studies have reported that providing prescription heroin in controlled, supervised environments greatly reduces crime and provides addicts counselling and employment training services. "Results from these European studies suggest that medically prescribed heroin could greatly help our most troubled heroin addicts - those for whom we have no effective treatments," said project director Dr. Martin Schechter, head of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. Only 470 of Canada's estimated 100,000 heroin addicts - equally divided among participating cities - will be enrolled in the NAOMI project. Those chosen will be randomized into two groups of 70 to 80 people - a heroin injection group and a methadone therapy group. The heroin group will attend the clinic up to three times a day to receive an injection of pharmaceutical grade heroin. The others will attend the clinic once a day for an oral dose of methadone. The project is not without critics and skeptics. Former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen recalls a conversation he had with U.S. drug czar John Walters two years ago over the city's plan to establish safe injection sites. "He called the injection houses state-assisted suicide," he said. "He spewed all kinds of meaningless verbiage. It was the most bizarre meeting of my life. All we wanted to do was recognize the user as sick, not a criminal." The project's controversial nature and the perils of public misconception are keeping everyone involved tight-lipped. Dr. Suzanne Brissette, director of the drug rehabilitation program at St-Luc Hospital, wouldn't say where or when Montreal's NAOMI clinic will open - - "there are renovations and other matters to consider," she said, "but the project definitely will be here this spring." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake