Pubdate: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 Source: Vancouver Courier (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Vancouver Courier Contact: http://www.vancourier.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/474 Author: Mike Howell Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) HEROIN EXPERIMENT REMAINS IN BUREAUCRATIC LIMBO CAST Program Supporter Says Federal Health Minister May Be Responsible For Slow Progress Nineteen months after it was launched, the non-profit society created to drive Mayor Sam Sullivan's drug treatment plan has yet to receive approval from the federal government to begin trials. And the former executive director of the Inner Change Society wonders whether federal Health Minister Tony Clement's continuing criticisms of the city's supervised injection site is linked to the lack of action. "He has definite concerns about [the mayor's] project, and he's said so in many different ways," said Richard Mulcaster, who remains a board member of the society. "He doesn't seem to want to answer letters or meet or talk about this. So you kind of feel that it's obviously not within his vision or moral whatever it is." If Clement was supportive of "tight as a drum" research on drug addiction, then trials would likely be underway in the city, said Mulcaster, who was executive director of Inner Change from July 2007 until this past January. He said the society sent requests to the Canadian Institute of Health Research, a branch of the federal government, to begin trials. So far, the government has shown an interest in a trial that would involve heroin addicts. Mulcaster said the plan would be to experiment with giving a group of addicts injectable heroin while supplying another group with hydromorphone, an analgesic drug. Treatment would also be included in the trial. Initially, the trial was geared for 200 addicts, but the federal government said the society should consider doubling the number and include Montreal in the trials. For Mulcaster, the government's interest is encouraging but he can't say whether it's simply a stalling tactic. "There's nothing [from the government] but statements that say, 'You've got to stop using drugs'," he said. Although Clement is clearly focused on prevention and treatment for drug addicts, he is opposed to any type of plan that involves an addict injecting drugs. Speaking recently at an AIDS conference in Mexico City, Clement declared allowing addicts at the Insite drug injection site to stick needles in their veins amounts to letting people die slowly. When the mayor launched his CAST, or Chronic Addiction Substitution Treatment proposal, the objective was for doctors to prescribe legal drugs to up to 800 drug-addicted criminals and sex trade workers in the Downtown Eastside. The medication would serve as substitutes for illegal drugs such as crack cocaine and heroin, the two predominant drugs on the streets of the Downtown Eastside. The cost of the program, type of legal drugs and the number of doctors needed was never revealed. Despite the society's frustration, Mulcaster said it doesn't want to be "poking the government in the eye." The society plans to continue lobbying the government and said wealthy private donors are still interested in helping fund the program. He noted that businessman and philanthropist Don Rix funded Inner Change for the first year. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom