HEROIN TRIAL HAD 95% FAILURE RATE

A.C.T. HEALTH Minister Michael Moore should get his own facts right before
accusing the Prime Minister of misrepresenting the results of the Swiss
heroin distribution trial ("PM's drugs leaflet inaccurate, says Moore", CT,
14 June, p.1).

A leading Swiss medical expert who has made an evaluation of this trial is
Dr Ernst Aeschbach, a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Analysing the results, he found that in terms of a primary goal of
achieving abstinence from heroin, the trial after three years had achieved
a success rate of 5.2 per cent.

Most would agree with his conclusion that this is an "abysmal'' outcome.

And, speaking of misrepresentation, Dr Aeschbach was strongly critical of
proponents of the trial for spreading a false "euphoric claim of success''
around the world.

In comments published in an international journal, Drug Watch International
World News, he particularly condemned "unprofessional use of the media,
illustrated by the appearance of a project director on a television show in
Australia in which he blithely proclaimed success before the final result
of the evaluators had even been presented . . . this is a violation of the
established rules of scientific procedure''.

It should not pass unnoticed that this same Swiss project director, at the
invitation of Mr Moore, addressed a public meeting in Canberra at which
similarly euphoric claims were used to whip up support for a Swiss-style
heroin distribution trial in the ACT.

Thankfully, the attempt did not succeed, but Mr Moore is still trying. One
wonders why he persists.

What point could there possibly be in repeating an experiment which
achieved an almost 95 per cent failure rate?

Peter Trickett
Convener, People for a Drug-Free Society (ACT),
Fraser