VANCOUVER HEROIN TRIAL A FIRST

VANCOUVER - Vancouver heroin users have become the first in North America
to be given free prescription heroin, as part of a controversial drug trial
that began Monday.

The North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) started treating
just three drug users, but will eventually recruit 157 people for the
two-year study.

They will be split into two groups -- one receiving heroin, the other
methadone -- to find out if heroin is better for addicts who have failed at
methadone or abstinence.

The heroin users will attend the heavily secured clinic three times a day,
seven days a week, to be given their fix in a safe-injection room.
Methadone users will come twice a day to drink their heroin substitute.