HEALTH CANADA TENTATIVELY APPROVES FREE-HEROIN PROJECT FOR VANCOUVER ADDICTS

VANCOUVER - The federal government 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 be recruiting 158 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 drug users before full permission is granted.

Initiative spokesman Jim Boothroyd said a clinic to be used for the project
at Hastings and Abbott streets will have "extraordinarily high levels of
security" because it will have heroin at the site.

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

In the study, 88 people will receive prescribed heroin; another 70 will get
methadone.

The initiative is "exploring whether heroin-maintenance therapy provides a
viable option for chronic heroin users who have failed all other
treatments," Mr. Boothroyd said yesterday.

It will be the first North American study of its kind, and has the blessing
of the federal government, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell and Vancouver
police.

Candidates must be over 25, have been a heroin addict for more than five
years and have previously taken methadone treatment.

Those with criminal charges, on probation or with severe mental illness will
be excluded.

In similar European projects, heroin users have been able to return to
school, stop committing crime and spread less infectious disease once they
get their daily fix.