PLANS COULD HELP MORE HEROIN ADDICTS

Clinton Drug Czar Wants To Expand Access To Methadone
Clinics

(Washington DC)- The government announced plans for new rules Thursday
that it said would expand access to methadone clinics for heroin addicts.

The rules would shift oversight of clinics from the Food and Drug
Administration to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration and would allow doctors to make more of their own
decisions about prescribing methadone, the U.S. Health and Human
Services Department said in a statement.

"These regulations will improve access to methadone treatment programs
and give doctors more flexibility in designing treatment plans for
their patients," said Barry McCaffrey, President Clinton's drug czar.

"Research provides strong evidence to support methadone maintenance as
the most effective treatment for heroin addiction. Methadone keeps
more than 100,000 addicts off heroin, off welfare, and on the tax
rolls as law-abiding, productive citizens."

The public has 120 days for comment before the government decides
whether to finalize the proposal.

Methadone is a synthetic compound that does not cause the euphoria of
an opiate such as heroin but reduces withdrawal symptoms and the
user's craving for the drug.

It is given out in clinics in all states but nine, and supporters say
it should be even more widely available.

The government agrees.

"Treatment, along with research and prevention, is an essential part
of the national strategy to reduce drug addiction and its
consequences," HHS Secretary Donna Shalala said in a statement.

Last September the Clinton administration announced plans to expand
methadone treatment to all opiate addicts who request or need it --
including allowing doctors to give the drug out from their offices.

According to McCaffrey's Office of National Drug Control Policy, about
138,000 to 170,000 of an estimated 810,000 opiate addicts are
participating in methadone maintenance programs in the United States.

Studies show that addicts who complete supervised methadone treatment
programs abuse drugs less often and commit fewer crimes, and are more
likely to have jobs and be healthy.

Activists both praised and criticized the proposals.

"This is an important step in the right direction, but also too
little, too late," Ethan Nadelman, director of the Lindesmith Center,
a drug policy institute in San Francisco, said.

"Ordinary physicians should be allowed to prescribe this medicine, and
pharmacies to dispense it, just like any other medical treatment."