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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom