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Canadian
Doctors
Call
for
Opiate
Maintenance,
but
Attorney
General
Cites
"Bad
Message"
7/2/98
The Health Officers Council of British Columbia, a 20-doctor panel responsible for controlling outbreaks of communicable diseases in the province, called for a trial which would provide heroin to addicts in an effort to stem the spread of AIDS and Hepatitis C. The doctors also called upon the federal government to amend the Canadian Controlled Drug and Substances Act to make the drugs available. Canadian Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh offered a second opinion in opposition to the esteemed physicians' group, saying "the only place where there have been heroin trials has been Switzerland and there have been mixed reviews of that. There is no clinical evidence that this works." Dosanjh also stated that expansion of methadone programs would be better than the doctors' proposal, adding, "it's not OK to take drugs, and we need to send that message." (Dosanjh does not appear to be accurately informed on the issue. Substantial clinical evidence favoring maintenance programs does indeed exist, from the Swiss experiment all the way back to the early maintenance clinics from 1915 in the U.S. Much more information on this topic is available on the Lindesmith Center web site, drug maintenance section, at http://www.lindesmith.org/library/subject.html.)
-- END --
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Issue #48, 7/2/98
Join the DRCNet Thousand | Point and Click for Drug Policy Reform | US, UK Plan Biological Warfare in Opium-Producing Nations | Canadian Doctors Call for Opiate Maintenance, but Attorney General Cites "Bad Message" | Treatment-Resistant AIDS Spreading, Bolstering Case for Syringe Exchange | On Polling Numbers and Syringe Exchange in New Jersey | FDA Orders Books Destroyed | Crop Eradication Leaves Lebanon Peasants Hungry | News Briefs | Orlando, FL: Statewide Medical Marijuana Conference 25-Jul | Washington State Medical Marijuana Initiative Submits Signatures | Independence Day for KY Farmers: University of Kentucky to Release Hemp Research | Editorial: Who's a Fraud?
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