HOPES UP IN FIGHT FOR HEROIN ADDICTS

The anti-craving drug naltrexone successfully detoxifies three times as
many heroin addicts as standard inpatient treatment, early results from a
new trial show.

The Queensland Government-funded study of 160 patients is the world's first
trial directly comparing rapid detoxification and naltrexone against
regular use of methadone.

Professor John Saunders, head of the drug and alcohol clinic at Royal
Brisbane Hospital, said yesterday that he would report to the next
ministerial council on drug strategy that the trial showed naltrexone was
cost-effective.

"We achieved a 92 per cent success rate for detoxification under the rapid
detox technique," he said.

"This compares to around 28 per cent for standard detoxification as an
inpatient and five to 15 per cent for outpatient detox."

Professor Saunders, who presented the preliminary results of the trial at a
Queensland Drug and Alcohol Foundation conference, said opiate use was
virtually nil when patients were on naltrexone, although only 54 per cent
remained in treatment after three months.

Patients who had previously been on methadone were more likely to continue
treatment with naltrexone, a drug that blocks the effects of opiates and
reduces craving.

"I hope the governments of Australia will support naltrexone treatment
following rapid detoxification as a regular form of treatment which drug
and alcohol services should provide," Professor Saunders said.

He said he expected that the use of methadone, which essentially replaces
one addictive drug with another, would continue to be the best primary
treatment for most addicts because naltrexone was based on abstinence, a
much tougher path for patients and doctors.

Dr Jon Currie, director of drug and alcohol services for Western Sydney
Health, told the conference that a trial of naltrexone among 150 heroin and
methadone users at Westmead Hospital showed it was safe and cost-effective.

"Around 60 per cent of our patients are no longer dependent on heroin at 12
months and another 25per cent are on methadone so in all it's resulted in
80 per cent being in medical treatment," he said.

Dr Currie said that the trial showed that the cost of conventional
detoxification was about $6000 a patient compared with $2000 for rapid
detoxification, because of the latter's high success rate.

"From a cost point of view this is extremely effective drug for a public
health system to use," he said.

Dr Currie cautioned heroin users against seeking expensive rapid naltrexone
detoxification in private clinics that did not provide a comprehensive
treatment program with expert follow-up care.