News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: NAOMI Grads Return To Street Drugs |
| Title: | CN BC: NAOMI Grads Return To Street Drugs |
| Published On: | 2006-09-27 |
| Source: | Province, The (CN BC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-17 23:35:57 |
NAOMI GRADS RETURN TO STREET DRUGS
Controversial Program Can't Keep Junkies Clean, Participant Says
Most addicts who completed a controversial drug program that offers
free prescription heroin are now homeless, engaged in crime, and
using illicit drugs.
Gary Occhipinti, the first person to complete the NAOMI drug trial,
said he knows the other participants and most are back to their old habits.
"Most of the NAOMI participants are back shooting heroin," said
Occhipinti, at a meeting of the Four Pillars Coalition yesterday.
"It's the insanity of addiction."
He said the NAOMI participants, who must live in the Downtown
Eastside to qualify, remain in the area and return to poverty, crime
and addiction.
"You need treatment on demand," Occhipinti said.
If addicts got prescription heroin on an ongoing basis, they wouldn't
slip back into their old ways, he added.
The North American Opiate Medication Initiative has so far recruited
180 of 256 participants in Vancouver and Montreal for the 15-month trial.
The participants get to use either heroin or methadone two or three
times a day, seven days a week.
Dr. David Marsh, who runs the NAOMI project, said a European trial
found that 85 per cent of drug-users return to the street-drug scene
after the prescription heroin runs out.
Marsh said more than 70 per cent of the NAOMI participants have
overdosed in the past, and spend $2,430 a month on drugs.
Mayor Sam Sullivan said he's going on a fact-finding trip to Europe
next year to look at how other cities deal with drugs and crime.
Sullivan launched a survey on public disorder a few days ago. So far,
1,200 people in Vancouver have filled out questionnaires on how crime
has affected them.
Sullivan has also started a series of meetings with community leaders
to discuss crime issues.
A draft plan to improve the lives of the city's sex-trade workers has
been released. The plan includes "safe zones" in neighbourhoods, drug
treatment and job training.
The Living In Community project will include a series of 10 meetings
around the city in October and November.
Controversial Program Can't Keep Junkies Clean, Participant Says
Most addicts who completed a controversial drug program that offers
free prescription heroin are now homeless, engaged in crime, and
using illicit drugs.
Gary Occhipinti, the first person to complete the NAOMI drug trial,
said he knows the other participants and most are back to their old habits.
"Most of the NAOMI participants are back shooting heroin," said
Occhipinti, at a meeting of the Four Pillars Coalition yesterday.
"It's the insanity of addiction."
He said the NAOMI participants, who must live in the Downtown
Eastside to qualify, remain in the area and return to poverty, crime
and addiction.
"You need treatment on demand," Occhipinti said.
If addicts got prescription heroin on an ongoing basis, they wouldn't
slip back into their old ways, he added.
The North American Opiate Medication Initiative has so far recruited
180 of 256 participants in Vancouver and Montreal for the 15-month trial.
The participants get to use either heroin or methadone two or three
times a day, seven days a week.
Dr. David Marsh, who runs the NAOMI project, said a European trial
found that 85 per cent of drug-users return to the street-drug scene
after the prescription heroin runs out.
Marsh said more than 70 per cent of the NAOMI participants have
overdosed in the past, and spend $2,430 a month on drugs.
Mayor Sam Sullivan said he's going on a fact-finding trip to Europe
next year to look at how other cities deal with drugs and crime.
Sullivan launched a survey on public disorder a few days ago. So far,
1,200 people in Vancouver have filled out questionnaires on how crime
has affected them.
Sullivan has also started a series of meetings with community leaders
to discuss crime issues.
A draft plan to improve the lives of the city's sex-trade workers has
been released. The plan includes "safe zones" in neighbourhoods, drug
treatment and job training.
The Living In Community project will include a series of 10 meetings
around the city in October and November.
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