DRUG TRIALS

Fifty ACT dependent heroin users will take part in a trial of drugs
designed to help withdrawal and prevent relapse, as part of a series of
treatment options being trialled in different states.

ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell said in the ACT a drug called buprenorphine
would be used to help addicts withdraw from heroin use, and naltrexone
would be used to prevent relapse.

The trial, which would cost more than $100,000 would be jointly funded by
the ACT and the Commonwealth, and would be conducted by the National Centre
for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University.

The NSW and Victorian Governments have also announced trials of naltrexone,
a drug which blocks opiate receptors in the brain, ending the craving for
heroin.

NSW Health Minister Andrew Refshauge said the NSW trials were expected to
involve dependent users undergoing rapid detoxification for one day and
then taking regular oral doses of naltrexone. He said if the trials were
successful, they could be extended throughout NSW with naltrexone becoming
as readily available as other treatments such as methadone.

Victorian trials would not include rapid detoxification - a spokeswoman
said "What we are doing is trialling it on people who have detoxified on
the traditional method and then maintaining their detoxification with
naltrexone".

Brian Watters of the Salvation Army said the trials should be applauded but
care should be taken so that naltrexone was not seen as a "magic bullet or
miracle cure" for heroin addiction.