Pubdate: Mon, 1 Jun 2009
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2009 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Justine Hunter
Cited: Canadian Institutes of Health Research http://www.cihr.ca/e/193.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?131 (Heroin Maintenance)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Insite (Insite)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Stephen+Harper

TRIAL TO GIVE FREE HEROIN TO HARD-CORE ADDICTS IN VANCOUVER AND MONTREAL

Two hundred drug addicts in Montreal and Vancouver will be lining up 
for free heroin later this year at publicly funded clinics. And they 
can thank the federal Conservative government, despite its hard line 
against hard drugs.

The trial - which will offer the drug in pill and injectable forms as 
well - builds on a similar heroin experiment last year that found 
most participants committed far fewer crimes and their physical and 
mental health improved.

The three-year medical trial will put Canada on the leading edge of 
international addictions research "for a population that is in 
desperate need for alternate health options," said Michael Krausz, 
the lead investigator.

But the project is only proceeding with the blessing of, and 
$1-million in funding from, the Canadian Institutes of Health 
Research, an agency of Health Canada.

The federal Conservative government is currently fighting Vancouver's 
supervised-injection facility, Insite, in court. Prime Minister 
Stephen Harper has argued that taxpayer money should not fund drug 
use, but should be spent on prevention and treatment.

The heroin trial goes even further than Insite, not only providing a 
safe place to inject, but also the heroin itself.

The drug is legally purchased in Europe and brought to Canada under 
armed guard.

The trial is called SALOME, the Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid 
Medication Effectiveness, and it will build on a similar heroin 
experiment that wrapped up last summer. The North American Opiate 
Medication Initiative (NAOMI) was also funded by the Canadian 
Institutes of Health Research with the approval of Health Canada

The NAOMI trial was criticized by some addictions physicians but drew 
no comment from the federal government, which paid more than 
$8-million for the research.

"It's been disappointing," said Martin Schechter, who led NAOMI and 
is also working on SALOME. Dr. Schechter said European health 
authorities are very interested in the work, but Canadian authorities 
will not acknowledge it.

"There's a lot invested in NAOMI. We did everything we could to 
translate the information for decision-makers to make them understand 
what it meant," he said.

Dr. Krausz, a leading addictions researcher, has conducted another 
heroin trial in Germany, the largest such randomized clinical trial in Europe.

The Canadian research aims to determine if medically prescribed 
heroin is a safe and effective treatment and if users will accept the 
drug in pill form instead of injecting it.. It will also measure 
whether a licenced narcotic, Hydromorphone, can be used instead of heroin.

His team is now recruiting about 200 severe heroin addicts who have 
failed to respond to existing treatments and they expect to have the 
clinics in Vancouver and Montreal open by this fall.

Last week, Dr. Krausz's medical team sat down with Vancouver 
philanthropists asking for additional support for the clinics that 
will distribute both heroin and a legal narcotic substitute to 
hard-core addicts. Organizers say one business leader immediately 
offered a cheque for $100,000.

Trish Walsh, executive director of the InnerChange Foundation, who 
arranged last week's fundraiser with top Vancouver business and 
community leaders, said the 30 people who gathered in a corporate 
boardroom understood that the city cannot ignore its drug-addicted population.

"We have been sleepwalking right through the middle of this crisis."

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq did not return calls, but her press 
secretary, Josee Bellemare, offered an e-mailed statement on the 
minister's behalf: "Our government recognizes that injection drug 
users need assistance. That's why we are investing in prevention and 
treatment, to help people recover from their drug addictions."
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake