Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jan 2007
Source: Belfast Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2007 Belfast Telegraph Newspapers Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/42
Author: Justin Huggler
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?232 (Chronic Pain)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DOCTORS PROPOSE USING AFGHAN OPIUM AS NHS PAIN-KILLER

Afghan heroin available on the NHS? It may sound far-fetched but that 
is what two leading doctors from the British Medical Association have 
put forward as a way of dealing with a shortage of the drug.

Heroin is used by doctors under its medical name diamorphine as a 
pain-killer for the terminally ill and after serious operations. But 
there is currently a severe shortage of legal diamorphine in the UK.

At the same time, British soldiers in Afghanistan are in the midst of 
efforts to wipe out the cultivation of opium, from which heroin is 
refined. Doctors have suggested a solution to both problems: use the 
opium to produce heroin for medicinal use.

"If we were harvesting this drug from Afghanistan rather than 
destroying it, we'd be benefiting the population of Afghanistan as 
well as helping patients," Dr Vivienne Nathanson, the BMA's head of 
science and ethics, told the BBC.

But the suggestion has been rejected by both the Department of Health 
in Britain and the Afghan government. The idea of using Afghan opium 
for legal medicines has been touted before by a French think-tank. 
But it is the first time that the proposal has been given the weight 
of an internationally respected medical association.

Britain is the leading Western donor to Afghanistan's efforts to wipe 
out opium production, which accounts for 90 per cent of the world's 
illegal opium. Kabul does not have a major domestic problem with 
opium abuse, with most being exported to Europe.

To satisfy Western demands that this supply chain is broken, Afghan 
farmers have had their entire crops destroyed. Other farmers who 
voluntarily gave up growing poppies on the promise of financial help 
to grow other crops say the help never materialised. Reports have 
emerged of farmers made destitute by the West's anti-poppy campaign, 
who have resorted to selling their children in order to stay 
financially afloat.

The targeting of the poppy fields is widely believed to be a major 
factor in the popularity of the Taliban insurgency in the south and 
east. British troops facing some of the most intense fighting are in 
Helmand, a major centre of poppy cultivation.

"There must be ways of harvesting it and making sure that the harvest 
safely reaches the drug industry which would then refine it into 
diamorphine," Dr Nathanson said.

Her remarks were supported by Dr Jonathan Fielden, a consultant in 
anaesthesia and intensive care. He said: "Over the past year the 
availability of diamorphine has dramatically reduced. It has got to 
the stage where it is almost impossible in some hospitals to get hold 
of this drug for use outside very specific circumstances."

But the Department of Health said the shortage of diamorphine was due 
to limited production capacity, not a shortage of raw opium. Western 
anti-narcotics agencies have rejected the suggestion of cultivating 
Afghan opium for medicinal use in the past, saying it is too 
difficult to put safeguards in place and ensure the opium conforms to 
international standards.

Leading NGOs still contend the best solution is long-term investment 
in alternative crops. The problem is little else will grow in many 
barren parts of Afghanistan.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman