Pubdate: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 Source: Australian, The (Australia) Copyright: News Limited 2000 Contact: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ Author: Sarah Stock And John Kerin MOVE TO SUPPLY NARCAN TO ADDICTS HEROIN users may be given the revival drug naloxone to treat overdoses in their peers as part of a new national push to curb drug deaths. The move comes as the federal Government is reconsidering subsidising the heroin-craving blocker drug naltrexone for heroin users in response to new research supporting its effectiveness. The Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, made up of national health ministers, is considering a trial of naloxone, marketed as Narcan, in light of the continuing toll of heroin deaths, which has topped 1000 per year. Naloxone is used by ambulance workers to treat opioid overdose. It is available on prescription to doctors, but has never been made freely available to the public. Naltrexone is a craving stopper administered to get addicts off heroin. Proponents of naloxone being made available to users argue it could save lives in situations where heroin users are too afraid of criminal ramifications to call an ambulance. The National Drug Research Institute at Perth's Curtin University argues the merits of a trial in the latest Medical Journal of Australia. The institute's researchers investigated the issue at the request of the West Australian Health Department, which has since decided not to conduct a trial. A spokesman said the drug may give people a false sense of security so they do not resuscitate people, call ambulances or seek medical attention in the event of an overdose. But the researchers say a controlled trial is the only way to determine this. A senior research fellow at the institute, Simon Lenton, said a trial would cost about $300,000 over 12 to 18 months, involve about 500 people and compare outcomes in two groups. In new research by a team from Westmead Hospital in Sydney, a trial of naltrexone has resulted in half those participating staying off heroin for more than 12 months. Research leader Dr Jon Currie, head of the Western Sydney Area Health Service, found that in a trial involving 150 heroin users half had not gone back to heroin after 12 months. A spokeswoman for Health Minister Michael Wooldridge said that if there was new evidence, then the Government was willing to look at it. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart