$1M FOR STATE HEROIN TRUST

A NEW $1 million State Government trust fund will ensure Subiaco doctor
George O'Neil can afford to continue offering naltrexone treatment to
heroin addicts.

Premier Richard Court announced yesterday a naltrexone treatment trust
fund to pay for salary and related staff costs involved in treating
heroin addicts at community services, such as that offered at Dr
O'Neil's clinic.

The news came as a Melbourne family donated $500,000 to help establish
a clinic in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda that would be modelled on
Dr O'Neil's.

The Government trust fund is in addition to the $1 million clinical
trial of Dr O'Neil's rapid detoxification method, which is under way.

Dr O'Neil said yesterday the trust fund was a financial lifeline for
his clinic. Of the 45 patients he treated last week, only one qualified
for the clinical trial.

The remaining 44 could not afford the naltrexone, so Dr O'Neil paid for
their treatment himself.

"For me to carry 44 patients a week who are not on the trial, and to
meet their expenses, that is going to send me broke," Dr O'Neil said
yesterday. "This funding will take the financial stress off for at
least the next 12 months."

Mr Court said the fund would be overseen by a management committee,
including representatives from the Health Department of WA, the WA Drug
Abuse Strategy Office and the WA Network of Alcohol and Other Drug
Agencies.

"This new initiative responds to the need to provide significant
support to people, such as those at Dr O'Neil's clinic, who work so
hard to help manage patients undergoing this form of addiction
treatment," Mr Court said.

In Melbourne, retired businessman Peter White has already spent
$525,000 on a St Kilda clinic modelled on Dr O'Neil's, and is heavily
subsidising the price of naltrexone for recovering heroin addicts.

It was the positive atmosphere at Dr O'Neil's Subiaco clinic, and the
success of naltrexone in treating his daughter's addiction, which won
Mr White over.

"We had a daughter who was hooked into heroin, and she'd had a
treatment in Victoria, but she just went off the naltrexone," Mr White
said. "I'd read about George over in the west and thought he was on to
a good thing and I'd been supporting him financially for a bit over a
year.

"Then my wife took my daughter over there, and it was just a very happy
atmosphere. The other place we had taken her to was a bit like a
morgue, and everyone was not exactly treated like criminals but it was
not a happy place.

"He's just a very enthusiastic person himself and it comes across. The
patients love him.

"They also had people who had been on the treatment working around the
clinic."

Mr White is hoping his involvement in the St Kilda clinic will
diminish, with it possibly attracting Victorian Government support. It
is run by Dr Simon Rose, who has spent time learning at Dr O'Neil's
clinic.

Mr White's daughter was doing well after kicking the habit and was
overseas travelling with her sister.