MAYOR ENDORSES CONTROVERSIAL ADDICTION PROGRAM

Substituting Certain Drugs For Others Can Help Recovery, Advocates Say

Sharon Message was finally able to break her debilitating, years-long
crack cocaine habit in the 1990s. Unfortunately, she did so by
substituting it with crystal meth. While she was happy to have kicked
the former, the 45-year-old mother was now addicted to the latter, a
harmful psychostimulant drug.

However, the switch in substances did improve Message's life. She was
suddenly able to concentrate enough that, for the first time in
years, she could sit down and read a book. She even went back to
school. While she knew that crystal meth is a potential cause of
psychosis, kidney damage and tooth decay, it was a trade-off she was
willing to risk in order to try to put her life back on track.

In recognizing that the drug helped improve her focus, Message's
doctor was able to determine that she had Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In addition to some treatment
programs, she was prescribed Ritalin, and she subsequently lost her
craving for crystal meth.

Mayor Sam Sullivan hopes that Vancouver will launch a substitute-drug
treatment program for the city's cocaine and crystal-meth addicts
that will lead to more success stories like Message's. Last week,
Sullivan announced that he would lobby the federal government for an
exemption from Canada's narcotics laws in order to implement the
program for roughly 700 stimulant addicts. If approved, it would be
the first of its kind, on this scale, in the world.

"In essence, I can see where [Sullivan] has an idea that
[substitution treatment] may lessen the [addict's] desire and move
addiction from needles to pills," says Message, who is now the
executive secretary of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users
(VANDU). She has been taking Ritalin for the past year. "I can't
speak for all addicts and users, but sometimes abstinence isn't
always the answer, and a maintenance program might be the only thing
that works."

Sullivan has been advocating a citywide drug-substitution program for
the past two years, but this is the first time he has pushed forward
a plan since he became mayor in 2005. In an interview with WE,
Sullivan said this proposal is the next logical step in the city's
Four Pillars Drug Strategy. Heroin addicts can get methadone legally
prescribed to them in order to cope with withdrawal, and Vancouver
participates in the North American Opiate Medication Initiative
(NAOMI) trails, which gives hardcore addicts free heroin, but there
are no programs in place to deal with stimulant addicts.