I DISAGREE

YOUR front-page report (Heroin hit, 1/3) contained a lethal non sequitur.
The first 12 paragraphs of the report said that the "death rate soars when
addicts dump the naltrexone program" and yet the last two paragraphs tell
patients on naltrexone that "given the high use of naltrexone treatment in
WA, doctors prescribing naltrexone would need to consider whether its use
could be justified. Certainly all patients on naltrexone and their families
need to be warned about the life-threatening risks associated with its
use." The final paragraph of the report should have read "life-threatening
risks associated with its disuse".

To save lives, the very first duty of the media and the professional
community must be to exhort all patients on naltrexone to stay on the
program and follow the doctor's orders. The front-page headline should have
read: "Naltrexone patients: don't quit. Take your naltrexone today."

While this point gets hammered home, perhaps Dr George O'Neil's critics can
debate with him the ethics and efficacy of initiating naltrexone treatment.
I suggest they do so in medically appropriate forums, not just the pages of
The West Australian.

There can be no journalistic excuse for a newspaper to headline a
controversy by urging its readers to undertake a life-threatening course of
action.

CHARLES SLACK, Scarborough Beach.