FREE HEROIN: ADDICTS WANTED

A scientific experiment offering free heroin to drug users is looking
for 38 more volunteers addicted to heroin for at least five years.

The North American Opiate Medication Initiative, or NAOMI, is a
program approved by Health Canada that began enrolling drug users in
Vancouver in February 2005.

So far, the program in Vancouver has 161 participants and the program
in Montreal, which began later in 2005, has 54. Another 38 are needed
to round out the study.

The trials operate out of a nondescript building at Abbott and Hastings.

"We're just encouraging people who might have shied away or been
discouraged to even try before to come forward and talk to us if they
think they might qualify," said Julie Schneiderman, spokesperson for NAOMI.

The program works as a clinical trial that tests whether medically
prescribed heroin can attract and retain heroin users who have not
found success with methadone or abstinence programs.

Half of the volunteers receive "pharmaceutical-grade" heroin and the
other half receive methadone. The heroin users are the experimental
group and those prescribed methadone are the control group.

Ten per cent of the heroin group also unknowingly receive dilaudid, a
sister opiate to heroin. If the dilaudid doesn't show up in urine
samples taken from participants, researchers will know if the
participants have used non-prescribed heroin during the trial.

The heroin group is treated for 12 months and then entered over three
months into either a methadone program or another treatment program.

Methadone blocks heroin craving and prevents heroin withdrawal
symptoms and can be an effective treatment for some heroin users. But
a substantial proportion of heroin users do not benefit from methadone therapy.

Gary Oppichiniti, the first participant to go through the trial, was
featured in a Courier cover story last May. At the time, he was
nearing the end of his "cooling down" period and had gradually
reduced his dose of heroin.

"I've gotten my habit shrunk down far enough that even if they close
the doors on me tomorrow I would survive the withdrawal," he told Courier.

Schneiderman couldn't comment on Oppichiniti's status nor could she
release findings that show whether the trials are making positive gains.

"Anecdotally, there have been people who have told clinic staff that
they are working or that they're not involved in drugs outside of the
clinic," she said. "Right now, that's not quantifiable and I'm sure
there are stories in the reverse, as well."

Part of the trial involves followup interviews with participants to
determine if they have curbed or stopped their drug use or found a job.

Researchers will also look at those users involved in crime before
the study to determine if they are still relying on crime such as
burglary to feed their habits.

The program is expected to end next spring with a report on the
trials to be released likely in the fall of 2008. The report will be
sent to all three levels of government.

The idea for heroin trials in Canada is not new. In 1973, the federal
Commission of Inquiry into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs recommended
heroin-assisted therapy be tested in clinical trials.

All participants in the trials must meet strict criteria, including
being addicted to heroin, dilaudid or another opiate for five years.

A participant must be 25 or older, live downtown and have tried
addiction treatment twice in the past, including methadone maintenance.