ADDICT FLIES IN TO BEAT IMPLANT BAN

A QUEENSLAND heroin addict made a desperate flight to Perth to have a
naltrexone implant fitted by Dr George O'Neil after her doctor was banned
from performing the procedure.

Cheryl Ekins brought her sister, Holly, to Perth on Thursday night after
the Medical Board of Queensland imposed the restriction on Dr Stuart Reece.

Dr Reece buys naltrexone implants from Dr O'Neil. They are not approved for
human use and are not validated to replace oral naltrexone.

Cheryl Ekins is also a heroin addict and had been given an implant by Dr
Reece before the board determined he posed an imminent threat to the
wellbeing of vulnerable people.

But just half an hour before her sister was to get an implant, Dr Reece was
told the practice had to stop. "I have been using heroin for about 10 years
now and numerous times I have tried to stop but nothing ever worked,"
Cheryl Ekins, 32, said. "I have not had anything for 14 days since the
implant was put in.

"For the first time in 10 years I have not even thought about it."

Ms Ekins said she had been desperate for her 28-year-old sister to have the
treatment.

When they were told she could not get it in Queensland, they had no option
but to travel to Perth.

"I know someone who had one in for 12 months and they are still not using,"
she said.

Ms Ekins said she was not concerned the implant was not approved for human use.

"How can it be any worse than injecting heroin every day?" she said.

Ms Ekins said her sister would stay in WA for a few days before returning
home to her sister's 11-year-old son.

If they had to return to get another implant, they would.

"I don't care if we have to come another 10 times," she said.

Dr O'Neil has said he believed the Queensland board acted out of
nervousness after a series of newspaper reports on Dr Reece's use of
naltrexone.

He was not concerned that the Medical Board of WA had received a complaint
about his use of the implants from Leederville clinical psychologist Bill
Saunders.

"We have not done anything wrong - it (the complaint) is just time
consuming," Dr O'Neil said.

He believed a big campaign was being waged against his use of naltrexone by
some WA health professionals.

Dr Saunders wants the board to investigate whether Dr O'Neil is guilty of
professional improper conduct over his use of implants.

Dr Saunders is concerned that Dr O'Neil is doing research on humans with an
unregistered medical device and without Curtin University ethics committee
approval.

WA Health Department chief psychiatrist George Lipton said the department
could not endorse naltrexone implants because they were not approved for
human use.