Pubdate: Thu, 22 Mar 2007
Source: Vancouver 24hours (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Canoe Inc
Contact:  http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3837
Author: Irwin Loy, 24 hours
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

GIVE IT AWAY NOW?

One of the UK's top cops says his country's health system should be 
prescribing heroin to hardcore addicts, according to a published media report.

Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, 
told Britain's Independent newspaper that prescribing heroin would 
reduce crime rates and prevent overdose deaths.

"You need to understand there is a hardcore, a minority, who 
nevertheless commit masses of crime to feed their addiction," Jones 
told the paper last month.

"We have got to be realistic.

"I have looked into the whites of these people's eyes and many have 
no interest whatsoever in coming off drugs. We have to find a way of 
dealing with them, and licensed prescription is definitely something 
we should be thinking about."

Jones isn't the first law enforcement official in the UK to advocate 
for prescribed heroin, but he is reportedly the most senior officer 
to support the idea.

Canada's Debate

In an interview with 24 hours, his Canadian counterpart took a more 
cautious position.

"Heroin prescription programs are a treatment program, and any of the 
debate and discussion about a particular mode of treatment really 
needs to happen within the medical community," said Barry MacKnight, 
Fredericton, New Brunswick's chief of police and chair of the 
Canadian Association of Police Chiefs' drug abuse committee.

MacKnight said he would prefer that law enforcement stay out of the 
debate until medical experts have had their say. "We want to become 
engaged in that only if it becomes a public-safety issue," MacKnight said.

"But I would certainly say if there are effective treatment programs 
that can be applied in a community and there are no substantial 
public safety issues, that's just a win for all of us."

In the UK, specially licensed doctors are technically already allowed 
to prescribe heroin, but the numbers are limited. About 450 addicts 
of an estimated 40,000 'registered' heroin addicts get their dosage 
through prescriptions, according to the British based policy research 
group DrugScope.

In Vancouver, the NAOMI study gives addicts heroin in a clinical 
setting. One participant says he's already benefiting from the study.

'It's Been Huge'

Greg L., who didn't want his full name used, spent years doing petty 
crimes to feed his habit.

"I've been doing drugs for 21 years," said the 39-year-old. "For a 
while there I was doing break and enters. I was stealing cars and 
using them to do smash and grabs on businesses at night."

He stopped committing crimes after getting on a program prescribing 
methadone -- a synthetic drug often used as a heroin substitute. But 
he says he was kicked out after a disagreement six months ago, 
sending his life into a spiral.

"It was getting really bad here at the end of six months off 
methadone. I was running out of options of getting money to get the 
[heroin] dose I needed," Greg said.

He began to wonder how far he was willing to go again to get that 
money. "I started scoping out stores again. I was looking at stores, 
seeing what the possibility is of getting in and getting out," he said.

"If it got bad enough I thought I might do it." Instead, Greg was 
accepted into the NAOMI study. Three times a day, he'll be given a 
dose of heroin to feed his habit. It's only been two weeks so far, 
but Greg is optimistic. "It's been huge in stabilizing my life," he 
said. "I don't want to get back into [crime]. Now that I know I'm 
going to be well, it's taken a lot off my shoulders. It's made a me a 
lot more calm."

Scientific results from the trial are expected next fall.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman