GIULIANI CHANGES MIND ON METHADONE

NEW YORK (AP) Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is backing off his plan to move
thousands of heroin addicts into abstinence programs at city hospitals.

The mayor, who six months ago announced he wanted to abolish methadone
treatment, said the original idea was "maybe somewhat unrealistic,"
according to The New York Times.

City officials said Friday that the shift in policy came after a
methadone-treatment experiment at five public hospitals resulted in few
successes. Methadone, a synthetic drug, is prescribed to cut the craving for
heroin.

After a five-month tryout, only 21 of the city's 2,100 treated addicts had
given up the methadone, health officials said. And of those, five relapsed
into heroin use.

However, Giuliani said drug treatment experts had persuaded him not to
eliminate methadone programs, which researchers across the country still
consider the best hope for most recovering heroin addicts.