NEW HOPE FOR BREAKING ADDICTION TO DRUGS

Heroin takes hold of unhappy lives.

And sometimes it doesn't let go until it takes those same lives.

The Daily Herald has periodically published heart-wrenching stories of
people who have suffered the agony of drug addiction, only to have the pain
end with a deadly overdose.

Yet, heroin does not have to be an invincible conqueror of life. There are
cures, through treatment.

And when help arrives, a new life can begin. We have seen that happen in
instances where trouble with the law brings addicts before drug courts,
such as the one in Kane County. There, a commitment to seeking a cure -
under intense supervision and with the understanding that failure to follow
a treatment plan is not an option - leads to the ability to overcome or
control one's addiction.

Yet treatment, for all its value, is hard to get.

The federal Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that only 20 to
30 percent of the estimated 980,000 heroin abusers in the United States are
in treatment programs, according to the Associated Press.

One of the reasons those addicted to heroin find it difficult to get help
is that it is hard for them to access a traditional treatment method - use
of methadone. It is dispensed in drug abuse clinics. Many of these clinics
are in city neighborhoods that are hard to get to, and where the crime rate
is high.

Addicts also don't feel they have much involvement in their treatment
program through these clinics.

So many of them simply don't get methadone.

But a new program approved by Congress and endorsed by the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration on Tuesday promises to revolutionize drug treatment.

Addicts can now be treated with new drugs - buprenorphine/naloxone and
buprenorphine, sold as Suboxone and Subutex. The drugs help reduce opiate
dependence, while having weaker narcotic effects than methadone.

And unlike methadone, the drugs can be prescribed by a physician. This
eliminates the need to visit a clinic and gives addicts the comfort of
being treated in the privacy of their doctor's office. This should greatly
expand access to treatment.

At the same time, use of these drugs has to be carefully monitored.
Although studies show the new drugs to be safe and effective treatment for
opiate dependence, buprenorphiine has nonetheless been linked with some
deaths. It also can be abused.

Still, this new treatment policy not only has great potential from a
medical standpoint, but adoption of it also reflects a changing attitude in
the policymakers' approach to dealing with the nation's drug problem.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress hope that introduction of
the new drugs will allow addicts to be treated as patients, not criminals.

A stronger emphasis on treatment, as an acceptable and productive weapon in
the war on drugs, is encouraging.