DANGER IN HEROIN QUICK-FIX DRUG

The controversial heroin treatment Naltrexone has emerged in Sydney's drugs
black market, with medical authorities warning that addicts risk serious
illness by avoiding supervision.

Naltrexone is being given clinical trials in Australia but doctors said
yesterday it was also available through dealers, overseas mail or from
people who had prescriptions.

The black market mainly served addicts who wanted to break their addiction
without revealing heroin use, as well as others who wrongly believed
Naltrexone could safely allow them to control but not halt their addiction.

"They might take it for days or weeks, stop, take heroin, get stoned for a
day or two or a week, and then go back on Naltrexone," said Mr Gerard Byrne,
the Salvation Army's drug rehabilitation program director.

"There's any number of ways they can get it."

Some American companies solicit e-mail sales on the Internet, with the
warning that no refunds will be made if the "prohibited import" is seized by
Australian Customs. No seizures had been recorded, Customs said yesterday.

Dr Alex Wodak, director of alcohol and drug services at St Vincent's
Hospital, said there was a black market in Naltrexone because demand
exceeded supply. He said that some people believed it would help them stay
off heroin.

"And it will - but they don't want their names on official lists," he said.

While death was a possible but unlikely consequence, "it's very likely you
will have a very unpleasant time of it".

Consequences included extreme diarrhoea, vomiting and muscle pains.

Dr George O'Neil, who is trialling the treatment in Perth, said one dealer
was found selling antacid tablets in Perth hotels for $5 each, purporting
them to be Naltrexone. In Sydney, where legitimate treatments, including
rapid detoxification under anaesthetic, might cost $10,000, "some people are
offering street remedies for $100".

Prescribed tablets sold for about $6 each, Dr O'Neil said, and were used to
maintain addicts off heroin after the rapid detoxification.

The Lismore MP Mr Bill Rixon, an advocate of Naltrexone, said yesterday
North Coast addicts were getting the drug "and I don't know how".

Their only motive, he said, was to "get off heroin, but it's not a pretty
sight when they detox at home".

Naltrexone is an opiate antagonist which denies addicts the effects they
seek from heroin. Westmead Hospital next year will begin a clinical test on
560 patients.

At least 13 Australian deaths, including three in Sydney, have been
attributed to heroin overdoses once Naltrexone treatment ceases. The
treatment lowers the body's tolerance to opiates, significantly increasing
the risk from subsequent heroin use.

According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Australian Drug
Evaluation Committee may consider Naltrexone for registration here at the
end of the year.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst