PM PUT ON THE SPOT BY ADDICT

A 21-year-old recovering drug addict named Simon yesterday stumped the Prime
Minister, Mr John Howard, when he phoned a radio station and demanded to
know why he had to pay $200 for a bottle of 30 tablets that kept him from
using heroin.

Mr Howard agreed it was a fair question, but said he did not know why the
detoxification drug, Naltrexone - which has just been approved by
Commonwealth authorities for general prescription - was so expensive.

Simon, who later told The Age he came from a good family in Hawthorn and did
not want his surname used, said he was deeply disappointed in Mr Howard's
response.

``He didn't know what Naltrexone is; he obviously hasn't really given this
subject much thought,'' he said.

Simon said he had been free of heroin for eight days and was determined to
stay ``clean'' after two years of addiction, but he had to take a Naltrexone
tablet every day, coupled with counselling and ``the right attitude''.

He was too sick to work yet and the cost of the anti-heroin drug was a
problem. He had been stealing and dealing in drugs to support a habit that
cost $100 a day, buying heroin in Lonsdale Street, Smith Street and around
the Collingwood Housing Ministry flats.

But after ``losing the plot'' and smashing up his parents' home - to the
point that his desperate mother had sent his sister to buy drugs for him -
he had resolved to repair his life.

The young man's GP, Dr Michael Kozminsky of Brighton, said he believed that
Naltrexone should be covered by the National Health Scheme ``as a matter of
urgency''.

``The community would be streets ahead if this drug could be purchased at a
reasonable price,'' Dr Kozminsky said. ``It's not the be-all and end-all,
but it helps opiate-dependent people to return to normal lives.''

The doctor, who has treated about 900 Melbourne addicts with Naltrexone
under a special licence over the past 18 months, said about a third of his
patients were fully employed within six months of the treatment beginning.
The drug blocks the opiate-receptors in an addict's brain, killing the
``high'' from heroin.

Dr Kozminsky and Simon also backed calls for an official heroin trial to
help hard-line addicts lead crime-free lives, and the doctor said he would
be happy to talk to the Prime Minister about the subject.

The exchange between Mr Howard and Simon came after the Prime Minister,
interviewed on 3AW, reiterated his ``tough on drugs'' stance and said there
was no hard evidence in the world that heroin trials could alleviate the
problems caused by addiction.

Although he agreed that a vast amount of heroin remained on the streets
despite police and Customs crackdowns, Mr Howard said he did not see any
prospect that he would change his mind about heroin trials.

Asked whether he accepted that Australia was probably heading for another
record level of fatal heroin overdoses, he said: ``We could be.''

But he said he was not convinced by scientific opinion that such a trial
would be worthwhile, and at a time when society was making it harder to
smoke cigarettes, it would be anomalous to make heroin more freely
available.

Simon then phoned 3AW to ask why his Naltrexone cost so much.

Mr Howard said, ``Well, that's certainly a fair question. I can't give you
all the reasons off-hand as to why it is that expensive. It's obviously
related, I guess, to the unavoidable fact that relatively new drugs in this
country are often expensive. I will get some further information about that
...I hope you continue to be successful and supported in your treatment.''