DOCTORS BACK UP MAYOR'S PROGRAM FOR DRUG ADDICTS

Would Replace Illegal Substances With Prescriptions

Three prominent doctors are backing Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan's
plan to establish a substitution treatment trial for drug addicts.

Doctors David Marsh, Perry Kendall and John Blatherwick have agreed
to provide advice and leadership.

"This offers an alternative that might work," said Blatherwick, chief
medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health.

"We got a politician sticking his neck out, the least we could do as
medical advisers is make sure it is developed."

Lois Johnson, executive director of Inner Change, the non-profit
society developed to manage the proposed trial, said the doctors'
endorsement is a positive step.

"Their advice and support for the project is really important to the
clinical trial portion of it," she said.

But Brenda Plant, executive director for Turning Point Recovery
Society, which provides residential recovery, said it is too early to
judge the project.

"Drug substitution treatment is a relatively new initiative and it
remains to be seen what impact it will have," she said.

"What is really important is the fact that treatment does work.
People do recover from addiction."