FREE HEROIN PROJECT WINS FEDERAL OK

VANCOUVER -- Ottawa has given conditional approval to the dispensing of free
heroin to drug addicts in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The North American Opiate Medication Initiative will recruit 158 local
drug-users for the 21-month pilot project, set to begin by the end of the
year.

Health Canada said it wants adequate security measures in place for staff
and users before full permission is granted.

Initiative spokesman Jim Boothroyd said the clinic to be used for the
project will have "extraordinarily high levels of security" because it will
have heroin on site.

The project will include the delivery of heroin to the clinic by armoured
truck.

In the study, 88 people will receive prescribed heroin; another 70 will get
methadone. The first North American study of its kind, it has the blessing
of the federal government and Vancouver police.