|
Newsbrief:
Heroin
Maintenance
Study
Now
Underway
in
Vancouver
3/18/05
https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/379/naomi.shtml
The North American Opiate
Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI) heroin maintenance pilot project got underway
Monday in Vancouver. Three Vancouver heroin users became the first
in North America to participate in such a program, receiving and injecting
free heroin in NAOMI's highly secure facility in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The pilot project will last for two years and will eventually include 157
heroin users in Vancouver, as well as hundreds more in Toronto and Montreal
as it undergoes a scheduled expansion.
"Today, the treatment stage
of the NAOMI study begins," spokesman Jim Boothroyd told reporters Monday.
"The clinical trial is fully up and running."
In the clinical study, some
participants will receive heroin while others will receive methadone in
an effort to see whether heroin works better in weaning long-time drug
users who have not responded to either abstinence-based programs or methadone
maintenance. Those who receive heroin will go to the NAOMI facility
three times a day, seven days a week, to receive and shoot up their fix
under a nurse's supervision. Methadone users need come only twice
a day to drink their fix.
"This will be the first time
in Canadian history that physicians are prescribing heroin for the treatment
of heroin dependence," said NAOMI clinical director Dr. David Marsh.
Heroin maintenance programs
have been underway in European countries, such as Switzerland and Germany,
for several years. They are ardently opposed by United States drug
czar John Walters and United Nations anti-drug agencies such as the International
Narcotics Control Board.
-- END --
|
Issue #379
-- 3/18/05
Editorial:
How
to
Launch
a
Nationwide
Drug
Menace
|
Alaska
Measure
to
Recriminalize
Marijuana
Headed
for
Hearings
Next
Week
|
The
UN
Vienna
Meeting:
Glass
Half
Empty
or
Glass
Half
Full?
|
Marijuana
Regulation
Efforts
Moving
Forward
in
Nevada
and
Vermont
|
Marijuana
Law
Enforcement
Costs
More
than
$7
Billion
a
Year
--
and
Doesn't
Work,
Says
New
Report
|
Coasters
to
Stop
the
Drug
War
|
Events
and
Conferences
Coming
Up
for
Drug
Reformers
--
Come
Out
and
Be
a
Part
of
It
|
Newsbrief:
This
Week's
Corrupt
Cops
Stories
|
Newsbrief:
US
Drug
War
Hurts
Women,
Says
New
Report
|
Newsbrief:
Welfare
Bill
Amended
to
Cut
Funding
to
States
That
Fail
to
Drug
Test
Welfare
Recipients,
But
None
Currently
Do
|
Newsbrief:
Police
in
Missouri
Town
Seek
to
Overturn
Marijuana
Reform
Ordinance
|
Newsbrief:
Heroin
Maintenance
Study
Now
Underway
in
Vancouver
|
Newsbrief:
Vancouver
Sun
Says
Legalize
It
|
Newsbrief:
UN
Predicts
Cocaine
Price
Increase,
Cites
Colombia
"Success"
|
Newsbrief:
European
Drug
Think-Tank
Calls
for
Legalizing
Afghan
Opium
Crop
--
Afghan
Government
Reaction
Mixed
|
Newsbrief:
Crackdown
in
Sao
Paulo's
"Crackland"
Stirs
Criticism
|
Media
Scan:
Tony
Papa
on
Artists
Against
the
Drug
War
for
Alternet,
Slate
on
the
WTO
and
Marijuana
Laws,
Vancouver
Sun
on
Marijuana
Legalization,
UK
Overdosing
on
Opiates
Article
|
This
Week
in
History
|
MAPS
Benefit
Auction
|
The
Reformer's
Calendar
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
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|
