Pubdate: Mon, 05 Feb 2007
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2007 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Jill Stark
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

HEROIN TREATMENT MAY RAISE RISK OF OVERDOSE

A CONTROVERSIAL treatment to help drug addicts kick heroin could put 
them at risk of fatal overdoses, research has revealed.

When implanted in the body, naltrexone -- a drug that sends addicts 
into immediate withdrawal -- was thought to prevent heroin overdoses 
by blocking the effects of opiates.

But doctors from the Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the 
University of NSW found five drug-related deaths among people using 
the implants in coronial records.

Four men and a women, with an average age of 26, died between 2002 
and 2004. Two of them were from Victoria.

Researchers believe some addicts may have taken large doses of heroin 
to overcome the "block" effect of the implant.

"The big thing that has been claimed is if you are actively in 
treatment with naltrexone implants you can't overdose, and the fact 
of the matter is these people did," one of the study's authors, Dr 
Louisa Degenhardt, said.

Naltrexone, which has been used since the late 1990s in Australia as 
an alternative heroin withdrawal method to methadone, has divided the 
drug treatment community.

Normally used for alcoholism treatment, its effectiveness in heroin 
addiction is untested. And although the oral tablet has been licensed 
by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the implant method has not 
been clinically tested.

Two deaths occurred when users were undergoing implant treatment, one 
happened soon after an implant was removed and two about six months 
after insertion.

Addiction specialist Nick Lintzeris, from drug treatment agency 
Turning Point, said it was possible some of the deaths had occurred 
after naltrexone had worn off. "The problem is when you stop using it 
(naltrexone) you become sensitive to the effects of heroin, so that 
even much smaller doses of heroin than you used to use could be 
potentially lethal," he said.

The research will be published today in The Medical Journal of Australia.
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