Pubdate: Wed, 27 Sep 2006
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: John Bermingham
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

NAOMI GRADS RETURN TO STREET DRUGS

Controversial Program Can't Keep Junkies Clean, Participant Says

Most addicts who completed a controversial drug program that offers 
free prescription heroin are now homeless, engaged in crime, and 
using illicit drugs.

Gary Occhipinti, the first person to complete the NAOMI drug trial, 
said he knows the other participants and most are back to their old habits.

"Most of the NAOMI participants are back shooting heroin," said 
Occhipinti, at a meeting of the Four Pillars Coalition yesterday. 
"It's the insanity of addiction."

He said the NAOMI participants, who must live in the Downtown 
Eastside to qualify, remain in the area and return to poverty, crime 
and addiction.

"You need treatment on demand," Occhipinti said.

If addicts got prescription heroin on an ongoing basis, they wouldn't 
slip back into their old ways, he added.

The North American Opiate Medication Initiative has so far recruited 
180 of 256 participants in Vancouver and Montreal for the 15-month trial.

The participants get to use either heroin or methadone two or three 
times a day, seven days a week.

Dr. David Marsh, who runs the NAOMI project, said a European trial 
found that 85 per cent of drug-users return to the street-drug scene 
after the prescription heroin runs out.

Marsh said more than 70 per cent of the NAOMI participants have 
overdosed in the past, and spend $2,430 a month on drugs.

Mayor Sam Sullivan said he's going on a fact-finding trip to Europe 
next year to look at how other cities deal with drugs and crime.

Sullivan launched a survey on public disorder a few days ago. So far, 
1,200 people in Vancouver have filled out questionnaires on how crime 
has affected them.

Sullivan has also started a series of meetings with community leaders 
to discuss crime issues.

A draft plan to improve the lives of the city's sex-trade workers has 
been released. The plan includes "safe zones" in neighbourhoods, drug 
treatment and job training.

The Living In Community project will include a series of 10 meetings 
around the city in October and November.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman