MP SUPPORTS IV DRUG EXPERIMENT

Providing intravenous drug users with free heroin or other
prescription narcotics will give them a better ability to get off the
street and into treatment.

Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Liberal MP Keith Martin prescribes to that
theory, which was used by the North American Opiate Medication
Initiative (NAOMI) in its three years of clinical trials on the
streets of Vancouver and Montreal. Heroin users in the program were
monitored.

Results of their study are expected in June.

Basing its strategy on that of similar successful programs in Europe,
the NAOMI project offered IV drug users one of three narcotics in a
supervised setting, so they didn't have to find the day's supply
through illegal activities.

Martin believes a program such as this could work in
Victoria.

"NAOMI saves money while saving lives," said Martin, who doubles as a
physician who has worked in detox settings. "It's really a
state-of-the-art way to address narcotic addictions."

NAOMI participants were given exclusively either heroin or
prescription opiates methodone or dilaudid, and were instructed to
abstain from using any other street drugs.

This is a step beyond the needle exchange currently operating in
Victoria or a supervised injection site that has been proposed. Both
would provide clean equipment, while the latter would offer a safe
place for users to inject their own drugs.

Katrina Jensen, executive director at AIDS Vancouver Island, the
organization that co-ordinates Victoria's contentious needle exchange,
knows the local community of injection drug users in Victoria well.
She also says a program based on NAOMI's findings would work well here.

"We believe it would be a valuable addition to harm reduction in
Victoria," said Jensen.

Martin visited both NAOMI research sites and is optimistic about what
he saw, as well as the outcomes of European studies.

"The findings are amazing," he said.

"They get access to the toughest hardcore addicts that are running
around committing crimes and give them drugs to get them into the
medical system .. and get them treatment."

The European studies were conducted in Switzerland, Germany and the
Netherlands. They showed that the program led to reductions in drug
use and criminal activity among the participants, as well as increased
compliance with treatment programs.

NAOMI project spokesperson Julie Schneiderman cautioned those results
may not be applicable to Canada, which is why the researchers went
ahead with their own clinical studies beginning in February 2005.

She noted that one of the key differences between the Canadian and
European studies was whether the subjects had or were provided with
stable housing while in treatment.

In Europe there was a much greater amount of affordable housing
available to the participants.

Still, she did witness anecdotal evidence.

"People gained weight, stopped working in the sex trade and went back
to work," Schneiderman said.

"But there might be stories of the opposite too. We need to wait for
the science."