DETOX THERAPY IS SAVING LIVES

Once it was a private hospital in suburban Sydney.

Now it is the place where heroin and methadone addicts come for a
miracle.

Over three hours they are detoxified with the drug Naltrexone, a
heroin-blocking agent they must take daily for the next six months.

The drug therapy is combined with weekly counselling and urine
tests.

Evidence that the centre is not an average doctor's surgery starts at
the front counter.

One young receptionist, Anna Thai, lived on the streets for four years
before her mother kidnapped her with the help of a security guard.

They took her to the centre, where medical director Dr Siva Navaratnam
oversaw her transformation from homeless heroin user to drug-free employee.

Her front-desk colleague was so desperate for release from heroin that
she tried to hang herself in a city hotel.

All around their workplace are cards and letters from grateful
patients and their families who praise Dr Navaratnam and his staff for
saving their lives.

Dr Navaratnam, a former anaesthetist who previously travelled the
world teaching cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, is adamant that the
only people he cannot help are those who do not want help.

His patients must have family, church or community support, and they
must be able to pay $6900 for their treatment.

There are exceptions. Those who are poor - after providing proof of
their financial circumstances - can be treated free, as long as they
agree to perform 690 hours of community service.

And a recent donation of $350,000 from an anonymous benefactor means
that 100 addicts will be treated for half price.

The centre now treats 10 patients a week but will soon expand to take
100.

Critics say Naltrexone, now available through general practitioners,
has been introduced to Australia with too little education for
prescribers.

But at the Liverpool centre doctors and patients alike are passionate
about the drug which they say offers a way out.

Dr Navaratnam said that the introduction of Naltrexone meant that for
the first time there was an antidote to heroin and methadone.

Former addicts were craving-free when they walked from the clinic
after three hours, he said.

In a letter to Premier Bob Carr on the eve of the drug summit, he
wrote: ``Our work in addiction involves finding a treatable cause,
using the support of families and partners, forgetting and forgiving
the past and building a new future of hope.''