HEROIN PROGRAM NEARS END

The doctors overseeing the NAOMI prescribed heroin program may soon find
themselves facing an ethical dilemma.

The first test subjects given heroin are set to come off the program within
months. It's clear many have succeeded, but will they continue to do so
without the program and its controlled doses of heroin?

Under most test conditions, a medical doctor's ethical obligation demands
they continue administering the drug if the subject appears to be suffering
as a result of the trial's end. But by federal law, doctors can't prescribe
heroin beyond the trial.

It's a "serious issue", acknowledges Dr. David Marsh, NAOMI's lead investigator.