UNI BLOCKS HEROIN DOCTOR

CURTIN University has stopped the further supply of naltrexone implants
to controversial heroin treatment doctor George O'Neil until he gets
ethics committee approval and the implants pass a clinical trial.

The West Australian has obtained a copy of a confidential letter written
by the head of the university's school of pharmacy, Professor Bruce
Sunderland, to Dr O'Neil on Friday outlining its decision.

Professor Sunderland confirmed yesterday that he made the decision after
learning Dr O'Neil was selling the implants to Brisbane drug doctor
Stuart Reece, who is being investigated by the Medical Board of
Queensland.

Board registrar John Greenaway would not discuss details of the
complaints but an investigation by the Courier-Mail newspaper has
revealed at least 24 deaths among almost 850 of Dr Reece's patients
since July 1998.

A Perth clinical psychologist will lodge a complaint against Dr O'Neil
with the Medical Board of WA later this week. His complaint concerns Dr
O'Neil's use of naltrexone implants without ethics committee approval
and the use of an unlicensed product for experiments on humans.

Naltrexone implant packages carry the warning: "Not validated for human
use."

Dr O'Neil has been able to get around the normally strict guidelines
relating to new medical goods using a special access exemption under the
Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 for patients considered to be at risk of
dying.

In the past nine months, more than 400 heroin addicts in WA have been
fitted with the pencil-like devices which Dr O'Neil surgically inserts
into his patients' abdomens.

The implants are designed to deliver a constant supply of naltrexone,
which blocks the addict's craving for heroin, into the bloodstream for
up to six months.

Each implant costs $1000.

Many heroin addicts and their loved ones describe Dr O'Neil as a medical
pioneer, whose work has saved lives and cut the drug-related crime rate.
But many health officials, doctors and drug workers hold grave concerns
about his work.

It was reported in March that a two-year study of 3617 WA heroin addicts
by psychiatrist James Fellows-Smith and GP John Edwards uncovered a high
death rate among addicts who dropped off the naltrexone program because
of their lowered tolerance to opiates.

Dr O'Neil said the clinic had about a month's supply of implants.

He hoped an ethics committee meeting within the next fortnight would
grant him permission to use the implants in a clinical trial and allow
him to export them again.

Professor Sunderland's letter referred to Dr O'Neil's claim that he had
little money and, therefore, could not be sued, which was "not the case
for the university".