HEROIN USERS TO TAKE PART IN DETOX TRIALS

A trial of drugs to help heroin addicts withdraw and prevent relapse is
expected to begin in Canberra in July, according to ACT Health Minister
Michael Moore.

Forty-five addicts would be involved in the ACT trials of buprenorphine and
naltrexone, he said last night.

Of those, 25 dependent heroin users and five extra pilot subjects would be
involved in the trial examining the use of buprenorphine and naltrexone to
manage heroin withdrawal. The trial, to be managed by Dr Gabriele Bammer of
the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, would test what
dose of buprenorphine was needed, and whether it could be given without
creating its own withdrawal problems when the addict stopped taking
buprenorphine.

A separate trial would test 'accelerated detoxification' from methadone
using naltrexone. This process, involving 15 subjects from the ACT
Community Care Methadone Maintenance Program, would induct
methadone-maintained patients on to naltrexone using naltrexone-accelerated
detoxification.

Under the management of Professor Nick Glasgow, the study would also review
for three months the subjects' experiences of detoxification and their
success in continuing naltrexone maintenance and avoiding relapse. It also
would report its findings and make recommendations for a future trial to
the ACT Department of Health and Community Care.

Mr Moore said any trials of drugs would be evaluated in terms of harm
minimisation to individuals and to society. 'There are hundreds of people
in the ACT who use methadone as a maintenance therapy,' he said.

'Evaluations of this style of therapy around the world have shown that it
is the single most successful treatment for the reduction of harm in our
society.

'It helps keep lives together, removes people from the heroin scene,
reduces the spread of HIV, and reduces crime associated with drugs.''

'The trials are designed to ensure policy based on evidence. This contrasts
with the Prime Minister's approach when he established the national
tough-on-drugs approach of the Federal Government, which was not based on
any evidence that he was game to make public.'

The Queensland Government's support for a rapid detoxification and
naltrexone trial at Royal Brisbane Hospital has won strong support from the
Alcohol and Drug Foundation. Treasurer Joan Sheldon announced a $26
million, four-year anti-drug campaign in last week's state Budget, which
included funds for the hospital detoxification and trial programs for drug
addicts.