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Europe: Swiss Vote to Make Heroin Prescription Permanent, But Reject Marijuana Legalization

Voters in Switzerland Sunday gave overwhelming approval to a proposal to make the country's pioneering heroin prescription program legal, but at the same time rejected an initiative that would have legalized and regulated the use and sale of marijuana. The heroin program won with 69% of the vote, while the marijuana initiative got only 37% support.

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Swiss cannabis (marijuana) field (picture from cannatrade.ch)
Begun in 1994, the Swiss heroin prescription program has been proven to reduce crime among participants and improve the health and daily lives of addicts. It is currently offered in 23 centers across the country, where users who have not responded to other therapies inject carefully measured doses of heroin under medical supervision. The program also provides access to psychiatrists and social workers in its bid to help users function in society.

Making heroin prescription permanent was approved by parliament in March. But conservative forces balked at that decision and forced a national referendum.

The United States and the UN's International Narcotics Control Board have criticized the program as potentially fueling drug abuse, but other governments have started or are considering their own programs modeled on the system. The Netherlands has been offering prescribed heroin since 2006, with nearly 600 patients in the program, and in May of this year, Denmark approved a law making heroin prescribing a permanent program. Great Britain, Belgium, Germany, and Spain are also carrying out heroin prescription trials, and one just finished up in Canada.

While Swiss voters were okay with providing heroin to addicts, they were not okay with allowing pot-smokers to go unmolested. The Hemp Initiative went down in flames, despite the wide acceptance of marijuana use in the country. Some 44% of Swiss 13-to-29-year-olds have smoked pot at least once, and 9% said they smoke almost daily.

The Hemp Initiative would have decriminalized the possession and cultivation of marijuana for personal use. It made the ballot after more than 100,000 Swiss signed petitions to place it before the voters.

But the initiative incited an organized opposition, which included part of the governing coalition. Despite the seeming paradox of approving the distribution of heroin while barring the use of marijuana, the Swiss seemed concerned that relaxing the marijuana laws would increase drug tourism and encourage drug use.

"That could lead to a situation where you have some sort of cannabis tourism in Switzerland because something that is illegal in the EU would be legal in Switzerland," government spokesman Oswald Sigg told the Associated Press.

"We would have to fear Switzerland becoming a European drug hub," Hans Fehr, a People's Party lawmaker, told the AP. "There'll be more consumers, unforeseeable, costs and a wider drug trade."

Olivier Borer, 35, a musician from Solothurn, told the AP he welcomed the vote's outcome because the state needed to help heroin addicts, but not encourage pot smoking. "I think it's very important to help these people, but not to facilitate the using of drugs. You can just see in the Netherlands how it's going. People just go there to smoke," Borer said.

But Jo Lang, a Green Party member of parliament said the marijuana vote result was disappointing because it meant 600,000 Swiss pot smokers will continue to be treated as criminals. "People have died from alcohol and heroin, but not from cannabis," Lang said.

Europe: Swiss to Vote on Marijuana Decriminalization, Heroin Prescription

Swiss voters will go to the polls November 30 to decide whether to approve marijuana decriminalization and the government's ongoing "four pillars" drug strategy, which includes the prescription of heroin to hard-core addicts. A Swiss Broadcasting Corporation poll late last month showed the decriminalization effort in a virtual dead heat, leading 45% to 42%, with 13% undecided, while the referendum on the broader strategy appears headed to easy victory, with 63% in favor, 20% opposed, and 17% undecided.

The referendum on marijuana policy envisages its legalization for personal use, with its cultivation and sale being regulated by the state. It comes a decade after Swiss voters narrowly rejected a similar proposal. An attempt to decriminalize through parliament failed in 2004.

While the vote on decriminalization looks to be close, the effort is supported by a 1999 government advisory committee report and the governing coalition, and it is picking up some unexpected allies. Regulation would protect young people, argued the Social Democrats. Somewhat surprisingly, the effort is also supported by the center-right or libertarian Radical Party and the respected daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung, which described both the decrim effort and the amended drug law as steps in the right direction.

"A policy which is only based on abstinence, bans and repression ultimately leads to more spending on welfare. It also is against the spirit of liberalism and leaves no room for people to take responsibility for themselves," the newspaper editorialized.

But not everyone is jumping on the decrim bandwagon. The rightist Swiss People's Party remains staunchly opposed. "Switzerland would become the drug Mecca of Europe," said People's Party parliamentarian Andrea Geissbühler.

The government's four-pillars drug strategy appears much less controversial, especially after a decade of pilot heroin prescription programs that have proven effective. Even the grassroots of the rightist parties approve, according to the poll.

"The number of drug-related deaths per year dropped from 400 at the beginning of the 1990s to 152 last year," said Felix Gutzwiller, a Zurich Radical Party senator, adding that each year some 200 addicts graduate from heroin maintenance to methadone maintenance. "It is telling that drugs issues are no longer top of the list of public concerns, unlike 20 years ago," he said.

Press Release: Results Show that North America's First Heroin Therapy Study Keeps Patients in Treatment, Improves Their Health and Reduces Illegal Activity

[Courtesy of North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI)] For Immediate Release: October 17, 2008 Contact: Julie Schneiderman at (604) 806-8380 Results show that North America’s first heroin therapy study keeps patients in treatment, improves their health and reduces illegal activity VANCOUVER, BC, October 17, 2008 – Researchers from the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI Study) today released final data on the primary outcomes from the three-year randomized controlled clinical trial. “Our data show remarkable retention rates and significant improvements in illicit heroin use, illegal activity and health for participants receiving injection assisted therapy, as well as those assigned to optimized methadone maintenance,” says Dr. Martin Schechter, NAOMI’s Principal Investigator, Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences and Professor and Director, University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health. “Prior to NAOMI, all of the study participants had not benefited from repeated standard addiction treatments. Society had basically written them off as impossible to treat.” The data, which was collected from 251 participants at sites in Vancouver and Montreal, demonstrate that a combination of optimized methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) and heroin assisted treatment (HAT) can attract and retain the most difficult-to-reach and the hardest-to-treat individuals who have not been well served by the existing treatment system. Key findings at the 12-month point of the treatment-phase of the study showed that HAT and MMT achieved high retention rates: 88 per cent and 54 per cent respectively. Illicit heroin use fell by almost 70 per cent. The proportion of participants involved in illegal activity fell by almost half from just over 70 per cent to approximately 36 per cent. Similarly, the number of days of illegal activity and the amount spent on drugs both decreased by almost half. In fact, participants once spending on average $1,500 per month on drugs reported spending between $300-$500 per month by the end of the treatment phase. Marked improvements were also seen in participants’ medical status with scores improving by 27 per cent. Of particular note amongst the findings, participants receiving hydromorphone (DilaudidTM) instead of heroin on a double-blind basis (neither they nor the researchers knew) did not distinguish this drug from heroin. Moreover, hydromorphone – an opiate licensed for the relief of pain - appeared to be equally effective as heroin, although the study was not designed to test this conclusively. According to the NAOMI Study Investigators, further research could help to confirm these observations, allowing hydromorphone assisted therapy to be made more widely available. While a comprehensive health economics study is pending, researchers have already determined that the cost of continued treatment is much less than that of relapse. “We now have evidence to show that heroin-assisted therapy is a safe and effective treatment for people with chronic heroin addiction who have not benefited from previous treatments. A combination of optimal therapies – as delivered in the NAOMI clinics - can attract those most severely addicted to heroin, keep them in treatment and more importantly, help to improve their social and medical conditions,” explains Schechter. A summary report of the findings and background information on the study are available at: www.naomistudy.ca.

Why has Russia said no to Methadone?

Despite having nearly a million heroin addicts, with HIV spreading rapidly through that population, Russia's government has very tragically said no to methadone maintenance. According to a short video posted by the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), 80% of all new HIV cases in Russia are due to needle sharing by injection drug users. Check out the video here: Check out HCLU here.

Australia: Strong Support for Medical Marijuana, Needle Exchange Programs, National Survey Finds

Australia's 2007 National Drug Strategy Household Survey, in which more than 23,000 people over the age of 12 were quizzed by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare about their drug use and attitudes toward various drug policy positions, has demonstrated broad support for medical marijuana and harm reduction measures aimed at hard drug users.

Regarding heroin use, the survey found that 67% supported needle exchange programs, 68% supported methadone maintenance, 75% supported the use of naltrexone for overdose avoidance, and 79% supported the use of rapid detox therapy. On the other hand, only 50% supported heroin injection sites, and only 33% supported heroin maintenance therapy.

Medical marijuana also won strong support. Some 69% supported legal medical marijuana, while an even larger number, 75%, supported clinical trials for medical marijuana. In all the policy choices cited here, support was at higher levels than the most recent national survey in 2004.

Marijuana legalization for personal use did not fare so well. Only 21% supported legalization, down from 27% in 2004. The intervening period has been one of Reefer Madness Down Under, with Australian authorities and a complicit media waxing hysterical about the alleged dangers of the weed.

When it comes to legalizing other drugs, support was in the single digits, and relatively unchanged from 2004.

Frighteningly, large majorities of Australians favored increased criminal penalties for drug sales offenses. More than 80% favored harsher sentences for hard drug sales, while even for marijuana, nearly two-thirds (63%) wanted stiffer penalties.

Feature: Amsterdam, Connecticut? Drug Reformer With Bold Vision Seeks State Office, Radical Change

Like the rest of inner city America, Bridgeport, Connecticut's 130th District has for decades been ground zero in the war on drugs. Mostly black and Latino, like other majority minority neighborhoods across the land, it has suffered the twin ravages of drug abuse and drug prohibition. Now, a former drug-fighting Navy officer turned drug reformer is seeking to change all that with a bold vision and an upstart bid for the state House of Representatives.

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Sylvester Salcedo (2nd from right)
In late May, Bridgeport attorney Sylvester Salcedo announced he was seeking the Democratic Party nomination for November's House race in the 130th. Salcedo is best known in drug reform circles for being the first and only former military officer to protest the drug war by sending back his Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medal to then President Bill Clinton.

"Narcotics use and abuse is our problem here at home," he wrote at the time in a letter sent to Clinton. "The solutions should be applied here and not in Colombia or elsewhere. To spend this additional amount of money overseas is wasteful and counterproductive."

Fast forward eight years and little has changed. The war on drugs continues apace, drug arrests and drug war prisoners reach new highs every year. The violence associated with drug prohibition continues to plague cities like Bridgeport. And Salcedo has had enough.

"The war on drugs is one of our nation's longest wars, at home and abroad," he said as he announced his candidacy May 29. "It is senseless, wasteful and counterproductive. It is highly discriminatory on a racial and economic basis. I said so on the steps of the US Congress in Washington, DC flanked and supported by Minnesota Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad and California Republican Congressman Tom Campbell in the summer of 2000," he said.

"Eight years later, the conditions are the same, if not worse, especially for the isolated and abandoned residents of ethnic minority enclaves and neighborhoods like the 130th District," Salcedo continued. "I want to win this State Representative seat to be a leader of change. I want to lead the way to peace, understanding and cooperation, not through the politics of fear, and racial and ethnic discord and conflict. This senseless war on the poor and the voiceless must end."

Salcedo is not one for half-measures. He is proposing turning the 130th District into a sort of mini-Amsterdam, a zone of drug tolerance replete with safe injection sites, opiate maintenance facilities, and taxed and regulated marijuana sales. "I'm floating around this idea of the Covenant of the 130th District, which is to declare the district as a zone of tolerance," he said.

"I want to borrow from models like Amsterdam or Frankfort," he elaborated. "I'm not pushing legalization legislation, but acknowledging the fact that the 130th is a high drug trafficking and consumption area, from marijuana to heroin to cocaine. I want to try those approaches here. If you live in the district and are a heroin addict, we would work with you, whether it's a treatment and rehabilitation regime or a maintenance regime. If you select maintenance, you get the level of pharmaceutical grade heroin you need. In either case, you get medical, psychological, and social services, an intake exam, a social worker and a drug counselor to work with you. But this won't be a coercive or punitive program; instead it will be designed to develop the relationship with the addict."

Citing Bridgeport's chronically under-funded schools, libraries, and other services, Salcedo also called for regulated marijuana sales as a revenue raiser. "I want to open up a number of marijuana coffee shops in this district," he said. "They could be city sponsored, or they could be a joint private-public project. If people want to come here and imbibe, we will welcome them, let them pay the market price, and tax their purchases. The profits can go to the city general fund, or, if it's a joint venture, a share to the entrepreneurs," he said. "We will follow the experience of Amsterdam, with the police working collaboratively, so they're not arresting people coming from the coffee shops."

Salcedo's will undoubtedly be an uphill battle against the entrenched Bridgeport Democratic Party political establishment and to convince skeptical voters that more of the drug war same old same old is not the solution. But he has already passed the first hurdle by getting 290 district residents to sign his nominating petitions. Now he has to raise $5,000 by August to show he is a viable candidate and qualify for another $20,000 in primary funding from the state of Connecticut. At least 150 Bridgeport residents must donate to his campaign for him to qualify. (That doesn't mean people from outside Bridgeport or Connecticut cannot donate -- they can.)

He can do it, Salcedo said. "The primaries are eight weeks away, and nobody expected me to even get the required signatures, but I did. And I met every person who signed my nomination papers. I think I can meet this challenge, too."

He's going to need some help, from the drug reform community at large and from Connecticut activists in particular if he is to have a chance. One prominent Connecticut drug reformer, Efficacy founder and 2006 Green Party gubernatorial candidate Cliff Thornton is among the first to step up.

"I'll definitely be going down there and doing a few things for Sylvester," said Thornton. "I have to help the reformer."

One thing he will advise Salcedo to do is put his drug reform message in the background. "We'll try to sharpen his message," Thornton said. "He doesn't have to lead with drug policy. He's already known as the drug reformer, and he won't have to talk about it because people are going to ask him about it.

Another thing Salcedo can do is try to tie drug reform into other issues facing the community, Thornton said. "We're spending somewhere between $600 million and $800 million on prisons in Connecticut every year," he said. "If we took that and put it toward health care, we could take care of everyone in the state. That's the kind of connection we need to be drawing."

It would be a good thing if national drug reform organizations provided more than token support, Thornton said, looking back at his 2006 campaign. "When it came to actually supporting that run, everybody disappeared," he said. "The flagship organizations sent a few bucks here and there, but not enough to make a difference. And that's a shame. We are starting to elect good drug reform politicians, like Roger Goodman in Washington state and Chris Murphy here in Connecticut. Their opponents attack them as soft on drug policy, and they go up in the polls. We can elect people, if we support them," Thornton said.

Salcedo could use the help, he said. "Right now this is basically a one-man campaign, and I have a full-time job."

Still, he said, he may be able to pull off a surprise victory. "This is going to be a low turnout election, no other issues on the ballot here, and the only reason people are likely to go to the ballot box is to vote for me for change or because they're tied to one of the establishment candidates," he said. "In this district in this election, maybe 200 or 300 votes can win it. I'll be beating the bushes and talking face to face with people. I'll do everything I can, and then it's up to the voters.

(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)

Europe: Scottish Parliament Think-Tank Calls for Prescription Heroin, Safe Injection Sites, Legalized Marijuana

A think-tank established by the Scottish parliament and tasked with looking at new approaches to drug policy has issued a report calling for radical changes in the way Scotland deals with the damage of drug and alcohol use. Parliament asked the think-tank, the Scottish Futures Forum, to determine how the country could cut the damage in half by 2025.

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Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness, Scotland (photo from Sam Fentress via Wikimedia)
The forum's report, Approaches to Drugs and Alcohol in Scotland: A Question of Architecture, landed like a stink-bomb in the middle of the ongoing Scottish debate over drug policy, which in recent months has been dominated by calls for a renewed "tough" approach to drug use and trafficking. It recommended that all substance use, including legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco, should be subsumed under a single policy dominated by a public health approach and was harshly critical of over-reliance on the criminal justice system to reduce the harms caused by substance use.

"Historically, we have seen, in particular, drug use mainly as a justice issue," the report noted. "This is mistaken and alcohol and drugs should be seen predominantly as a health, lifestyle and social issue to be considered along with smoking, obesity and other lifestyle challenges. The current level of enforcement activity tackling low level use of illegal drugs may not be the most effective deployment of enforcement resources and is likely to fail in reducing drug and alcohol related damage by half by 2025. It should be recognized that sending people to prison for low-level alcohol and drug-related crime is unproductive and probably unsustainable."

Instead of current policies, Scotland should shift to evidence-based policies emphasizing a public health approach, the forum said. Such policies would include consideration of safe injection sites to reduce the spread of infectious disease, prescribing of heroin to addicts, and the taxation and regulation of marijuana. More resources should go to prevention and treatment of substance abuse, as opposed to law enforcement, the forum said.

The Scottish government was not pleased, and a spokesman ruled out any quick establishment of safe injection sites. "There are complex legal and ethical issues around consumption rooms that cannot be easily resolved," the spokesman said. As for prescribing heroin, Scotland will "wait and see" how pilot programs in England are working out, he said.

Scottish Conservatives were appalled, with Tory leader Annabel Goldie calling safe injection sites "shooting galleries" and saying they and marijuana legalization were ideas out of the past.

But Liberal Democrats were more open. Their spokeswoman, Margaret Smith, said: "Drugs misuse is a global problem and if other countries have developed new and radical solutions, then it is sensible to consider them for use in Scotland."

Feature: Western Hemisphere's Only Heroin Maintenance Program Coming to an End

Every day for 15 months, Vancouver heroin addict Rob Scott Vincent, 36, went into a nondescript building on the city's Downtown Eastside where a nurse would hand him a syringe loaded with pharmaceutical grade heroin. Sitting at a sterile, stainless steel counter, Vincent would inject himself with the drug, then sit in an equally sterile waiting room for awhile as the drug took hold before heading out to do his daily business.

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Hastings Street, on Vancouver's East Side (courtesy VANDU)
Vincent was one of 251 participants -- 192 in Vancouver and the rest in Montreal -- in the only heroin maintenance program in the hemisphere, a pilot program known as the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI). Originally intended to operate in both Canada and the US, the US component never got off the ground in the drug war atmosphere there. And now, NAOMI is winding down in Vancouver and Montreal. The last handful of participants in the program will get their last fixes at the end of this month.

In the program, which was limited to long-time addicts over 25 who had failed to kick the habit at least twice in previous treatment tries, participants used treatments of oral methadone or injected heroin. A small percentage received a pharmaceutical opiate called Dilaudid. Participants also received counseling and other support services. The Canadian federal government (then under control of the Liberals) funded the project with $1.8 million and agreed to allow the importation of pharmaceutical heroin for the project.

Similar pilot opiate maintenance projects in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands produced results showing reductions in criminality, drug use, and economic costs to society, and increases in health, stability, and employability among participants. NAOMI researchers and supporters are hoping it will produce similar results. While the final research report from NAOMI is not expected until the fall, preliminary results suggest the findings will be similar to those in Europe.

In a March briefing paper, NAOMI reported that 85% of participants taking injected heroin had stayed with the program for 12 months, that the treatment had proven to be "extremely safe," and that there had been no security issues or evidence that NAOMI had had a deleterious impact on the neighborhood. The paper also suggested that the program would show a positive economic impact.

Canada estimates that each heroin addict costs the country $45,000 a year. The studies of European opiate maintenance programs report that they save host countries $20,000 a year for each participant.

"What we know now is that we were able to recruit people with long-term dependence on heroin who repeatedly failed other treatments and who had many health and social problems when they entered," said Dr. David Marsh, one of the co-investigators and lead clinical physician for the study. "From a doctor's perspective, whether they were treated with methadone or heroin, many of them improved dramatically. We'll know from the formal research results how much and in what ways they improved."

The provision of methadone or heroin was only part of the treatment, Marsh said. "The medication is a component of a broader package of primary care, mental health care, addiction counseling, and case management to provide participants with access to a range of welfare and other benefits," said Marsh. "We work with people to try to manage the negative consequences of their drug use and help them improve their lives."

Vincent had been addicted to opiates for nearly 15 years when he decided to participate in NAOMI. "I wanted to see if it could better my life, and it did," he said. "It helped me slowly wean down. I'm still using, but not even one-third of what I was using."

Vincent's stint in NAOMI ended in March. Since then, he has had to return to the streets to find his drugs. "It's not too bad," he said. "I mostly use morphine pills, and I pick up a pill for $5 bucks every morning and I'm good for the day." Vincent pays for his fixes by collecting and recycling cans. But sometimes, he can't find what he wants and has to spend time searching for a substitute opiate -- heroin, dilaudid, whatever is around. "It's usually readily available," he said, "but sometimes I have to scrounge around."

Getting participants completely off opiates wasn't the be-all and end-all of the pilot program, said Marsh. "Patients benefit in a lot of ways," he said. "Some were able to stop taking illegal opiates, and in my view, if a patient is prescribed methadone and is using it properly, I consider that a success. Methadone treatment has been available for many years, and there are thousands of studies showing its benefits."

The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) was one of the key supporters of NAOMI, despite its complaints about the restrictiveness of the standards for qualifying for the study. The program needs to continue, VANDU said.

"Regardless of the parameters they set that made it tough to qualify, this is a badly needed service and it's a shame it's just a pilot project and is not continuing," said VANDU president Richard Utendale. "I've talked to a lot of people who have been helped by it. They were able to improve their day-to-day lives by not having to struggle to feed their drug habits. NAOMI provided a safe place and support, and participants didn't have to worry about being jacked up by the police or ripped off or sold inferior products or dope with adulterants."

The Downtown Eastside, where both VANDU and NAOMI are located is the epicenter of one of the largest hard drug scenes in the hemisphere. The program had an impact on the area, said Utendale. "I think NAOMI also improved the neighborhood, with less street and property crime."

There was a downside to NAOMI, though, said Utendale. "The drawback is that when people are finished with the program, they have to go back on the street and resort to the same old means of getting their drugs. That's why this needs to be permanent."

Vincent said he wished the program could continue. "I would most definitely participate in a permanent program," he said. "It was very, very helpful. It's a lot easier to quit or reduce my intake with pharmaceutical grade heroin. Most of the stuff on the street is cut with other things -- that's why I like to use morphine. I can't see any reason for not keeping this open," he said. "NAOMI is a medical facility, just like Insite [the Vancouver safe injection site]. They should not shut it down."

But that is what is going to happen at the end of this month. Last November, doctors appealed on compassionate grounds to extend the program on behalf of five participants. So far there has been no agreement from either Health Canada or the regional health authority.

"Dreams are free," Utendale sighed, "but the way things are looking right now, this isn't going forward without some changes in Ottawa."

Marsh said it was "premature" to try to predict what would happen. "But I'm optimistic we'll find funding and get the regulatory approval at some point to apply the lessons we've learned from this study," he said.

But given the current Conservative federal government's ideological opposition to harm reduction, as evidenced by its losing battle to shut down Vancouver's safe injection site, it is going to take a new national election before there is any chance that Canada will follow the Europeans' lead and make heroin maintenance part of a broader public health policy.

Europe: Denmark Parliament Approves Heroin Maintenance Pilot Project

The Danish parliament Monday has given its approval for a heroin maintenance pilot project, Agence France-Presse reported, citing the Danish Health Ministry. The project will be aimed at the Scandinavian nation's most recalcitrant heroin users.

If it goes according to plan, the pilot project will begin this year and last through 2009. It will cost about $14 million dollars and some 500 of Denmark's most marginalized and most affected heroin users will participate. Heroin will be prescribed in combination with methadone. The aim is to rehabilitate problem drug users and reduce their criminal activity, the health ministry said.

Denmark will join a select group of European countries, including Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where such programs have consistently resulted in a decline in property crime, as well as improvements in clients' health and welfare. Also allowing experimentation with heroin maintenance are Great Britain, which restarted it last year well over a decade after the conservative government of Margaret Thatcher had shut it down, and Canada, where Vancouver hosts the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI), the only such program in North America. Earlier this month, the city of Tel Aviv announced it was seeking permission from the Ministry of Health to initiate a pilot program as well.

MSO Press Release: Colonial Management Group (CMG) now offering Buprenorphine/Suboxone in all their clinics

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 23, 2008 Contact Persons: Carol Sholiton, Founder/Director, E: [email protected]; Chuck Hilger, Colonial Management Group, E: [email protected] Colonial Management Group (CMG) Now offering Suboxone in all Clinics Colonial Management Group (CMG), with 54 opiate addiction treatment centers located throughout the United States, announced that as of January 1, 2008 all of their facilities are now offering Buprenorphine (Brand name Suboxone) in addition to their Methadone Maintenance Program. Suboxone (Buprenorphine/Naloxone) received approval by the FDA on October 8, 2002. It is state of the art medication to treat the medical condition of Opioid addiction. It is improving the quality of life for patients in recovery and giving them hope, dignity, and the ability to have a normal life again. CMG focuses the work in their clinics on managing the disease of addiction and strive to improve their patients' quality of life. This involves implementing the most current research findings in the treatment of their patients.
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