SOUTH Australia will be one of the first States to carry out trials of a controversial detoxification treatment for heroin addicts.

The State Government is expected soon to announce details of a program using the drug naltrexone, which may start before June.

Naltrexone already can be used by former addicts to block the effects of heroin, stopping cravings after detoxification.

But the trial would see the drug used in rapid detoxification under a general anaesthetic ñ a controversial process developed in Israel, which takes just hours.

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