GRATEFUL FATHER SUBSIDISES 'CURE' FOR ADDICTS

Peter White's daughter was lucky - as lucky as a heroin user can be, that
is. Her father had the money and the inclination to pay for her rapid
detoxification and Naltrexone withdrawal treatment in a private clinic - a
bill that usually totals between $4000 and $6000.

When he learnt of his daughter's addiction, Mr White took her to Perth,
where George O'Neill, the pioneer of the treatment in Australia, sedated
her, flushed her system of heroin and administered the opioid antagonist
drug Naltrexone to block the effects of heroin.

She continued with a daily Naltrexone tablet and now, at 18 and nearly a
year down the track, Mr White said, "she has her life back".

It wasn't as easy as that, of course, and Mr White does not pretend that
Naltrexone is the answer to the seemingly intractable heroin problem.

However, inspired by Dr O'Neill, the retired Melbourne businessman this
year paid $525,000 for a clinic in St Kilda and has begun heavily
subsidising the price of Naltrexone treatment for heroin users who couldn't
ordinarily afford it.

The clinic opened a week ago and its doctor, Simon Rose, is starting to see
patients.

"George O'Neill's clinic has got an aura of optimism about it, which is
what we want to engender here," Mr White said.

He also wants the Federal Government to add Naltrexone to its
pharmaceutical benefits list for use by heroin addicts (at present it is
subsidised to treat only alcoholism), and for the Victorian Government to
pour less money and energy into its proposed trial of supervised injecting
rooms and more into drug detoxification and rehabilitation services like
theirs.

In the meantime, Mr White - a former business figure in the road transport
industry - is making the initial treatment available to heroin addicts for
$200. The only requirement is that they have a carer - whether it be a
family member or a voluntary worker - to watch over the recovery process in
the difficult months afterwards. "If they haven't got a carer then we'll
help them find one," he said.

The new clinic also has the support of Baptist minister Tim Costello, who
urged the State Government to follow the lead set in New South Wales and
Western Australia by supporting clinical trials of Naltrexone treatment in
detoxification centres.

"We had here in our back lane (near the Collins Street Baptist Church)
yesterday a death from heroin ... and it just brings home the fact that
people are dying virtually daily while we still have nearly a two-week wait
for (drug treatment) beds," Mr Costello said.

He said it was crucial that treatments such as Naltrexone were available
right at the "whimsical moment" when addicts decided they wanted help, and
that the treatment was affordable.

Dr Rose became committed to providing detoxification cheaply "for everyone"
when he realised the high rate of heroin addiction among sex workers was
not being tackled because treatment was out of their reach.

"The main aim of the clinic is to make it available to everybody and to
optimise the post-detox treatment," he said.

Mr White said the clinic was developing links with church and welfare
agencies that could help users to tackle the reasons, such as low
self-esteem, that made them start using heroin, and hoped other businesses
would help them keep the treatment affordable.

"In Victoria there has been a lot of talk about (supervised) injection but
that doesn't get them off (heroin)," he said.

"There has been one death every day in July and if that continues then we
haven't achieved anything."

He said Dr O'Neill's rapid detoxification program in Perth had a 70 per
cent success rate.