Pubdate: Tue, 24 May 2005 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2005 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: David Carrigg, CanWest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) HEROIN? THEY CAN'T GIVE IT AWAY VANCOUVER - A controversial Vancouver drug-treatment program is struggling to recruit addicts despite offering a year's worth of free heroin. "We had a slower start to the study than we had expected," said Jim Boothroyd of the North American Opiate Medication Initiative. "We thought that our telephone lines would be rung off [the hook]." The federal government-funded NAOMI project is to recruit 158 hard-core heroin users in the gritty Downtown Eastside by November. But in three months, it has attracted only 21 people. Mr. Boothroyd said the problem is due to a combination of stringent entry requirements and misinformation about the program circulating in the area. "People thought we were fully enrolled in the first week. One doctor thought we were giving away free cocaine and other people thought we were taking methadone users, which we aren't," he said. The participants must be older than 25, have been hard-core users for five years, have used every day for the past year, not be on probation and live within a kilometre of the project's Downtown Eastside location. They must also consent to making all their medical history available to researchers and cannot be facing criminal charges. Participants will receive either heroin or methadone several times a day, seven days a week, for a year. The idea is to see whether giving addicts free heroin helps them give up their addiction. The project is also working with the groups in the troubled community that house hard-core addicts. There are an estimated 4,000 hard-core addicts in the Downtown Eastside. Mr. Boothroyd said he is confident recruiters will fill all the spaces by November. The trial, which includes sites in Montreal and Toronto, will cost $8-million. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth