HEROIN TREATMENT TRIALS FOR INMATES

Three heroin treatment drugs will be trialled in jails in Australia
for the first time.

Inmates who became drug-clean might also get special treatment in
parole hearings, NSW Minister for Corrective Services Bob Debus
announced yesterday. Three heroin treatment drugs - naltrexone,
buprenorphine and LAAM - will be trialled from early next year at
three NSW correctional centres.

Mr Debus said the programs were an attempt to "stop the cycle of drug
abuse and crime".

He said nearly 70 per cent of prisoners in NSW were jailed because of
drug-related crime and a solution was needed to break the cycle.

The $23 million package over four years also will allow the
pinpointing at police centres of prisoners with drug habits before
they are sent to jail.

Three existing drug-free wings will be expanded at jails in Parramatta
in Sydney's western suburbs, Cessnock in the Hunter Valley and Emu
Plains, west of Sydney, with prisoners signing contracts that they
will remain drug-free during their time in the wing and submit to
regular urine tests. A spokesperson for Corrective Services said
drug-free wings would be an incentive for many prisoners to turn away
from drugs.

The prisoners would be away from the intimidation of other prisoners
forcing drugs on them, or urging drug smuggling, the spokesperson
said. The fact some inmates went through the intense drug-clean
program would help them in future parole hearings.

The first trial of the controversial drug naltrexone will be held at
Parklea Correctional Centre with about 450 inmates expected to
participate over two years. A long-lasting methadone treatment, known
as LAAM, will be trialled at Lithgow Correctional Centre among about
50 inmates.

Buprenorphine will be trialled for the first time in an Australian
prison at Mullawa women's prison and at the male Silverwater remand
centre.

The drug, used successfully in France among 50,000 addicts, stops
overdoses of people under treatment, but is still waiting approval for
use at a federal level.

Buprenorphine is taken in tablet rather than in the syrup form, as
with methadone, and authorities believe it will stop opportunities for
abuse.