DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER

IT COULD be argued that while the science of collecting survey data is
relatively easy to perform, the art of interpretation is more difficult.

Your reports on the survey on mortality rates of Perth's heroin users
attribute the results for addicts treated with naltrexone to that
treatment program and the possibly fatal consequences of reduced
tolerance to opiates. This might be a valid hypothesis if all of the
other characteristics of the sample sub-groups were the same. I
suspect that they are not. Another equally valid hypothesis might be
that the addicts seeking naltrexone treatment are mainly comprised of
those desperate souls for whom every other treatment has failed and
that this, in turn, gives rise to a range of other factors which may
be the true cause of the higher mortality rate.

Perhaps what the survey results are really showing is that the
mortality rates among heroin users are proportionate to the degree of
addiction and desperation of the addicts and that these people are
more likely to seek naltrexone treatment. If this hypothesis is valid,
then a more appropriate response would be to give the program more
support rather than killing the messenger. Encouraging and enabling
addicts to stick with the program would also lessen the risk of
reduced tolerance to opiates.

PHILIP JOPPEK,
North Lake.