Move Over NAOMI, Here Comes SALOME--Vancouver's New Heroin Maintenance Trial About to Get Underway
In the Chronicle's review of the top international drug policy stories of the year last week, the slow spread of heroin maintenance was in the mix. This week, its back in the news, with word that a new Canadian heroin maintenance study in Vancouver is about to get underway.
The Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness (SALOME) will choose a Downtown Eastside location next month and begin taking applications from potential participants in February, according to a Tuesday press release from the Inner Change Foundation, which, along with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is funding the trial. With selection of participants supposed to last only three weeks, that means SALOME could be underway by March.
SALOME will enroll 322 hard-core heroin addicts—they must have been using at least five years and failed other treatments, including methadone maintenance—in a year-long, two-phase study. During the first phase, half will be given injectable heroin (diacetylmorphine) and half will be given injectable Dilaudid® (hydromorphone). In the second phase, half of the participants will be switched to oral versions of the drug they are using.
The comparison of heroin and Dilaudid® was inspired by unanticipated results from SALOME's forerunner, NAOMI (the North American Opiate Medication Study), which began in Vancouver in 2005 and produced positive results in research reviews last year. In NAOMI, researchers found that participants could not differentiate between heroin and Dilaudid®. The comparison of success rate among injection and oral administration users was inspired by hopes of reducing rates of injection heroin use.
SALOME was also supposed to take place in Montreal, but Quebec provincial authorities effectively killed it there by refusing to fund it. SALOME researchers have announced that it will now proceed in Vancouver alone.
With an estimated 5,000 heroin addicts in the Downtown Eastside and a municipal government that has officially embraced the progressive four pillars approach--prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and law enforcement—to problematic drug use, Vancouver is most receptive to such ground-breaking research. It is also the home of Insite, North America's only safe injection site.
The NAOMI and SALOME projects are the only heroin maintenance programs to take place in North America. Ongoing or pilot heroin maintenance programs are underway in Britain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.
Location:
Vancouver, BC
Canada
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HEROIN AND HARM REDUCTION VANCOUVER
Vancouver's landmark heroin study could transform addicts' lives January 1st, 2010
Good luck with that Vancouver. Most people who are addicted stay addicted until they seek full recovery, Heroin has been around for a long time and will continue to do it's best for those who suffer from addiction. Methadone pretty much has the same effect . Thinking that we can use Heroin as a source of treatment to me is foolish addiction dictates the agenda, just like recovery it's one or the other. Below are a few people I interviewed and they share there experience with Heroin, methadone and Harm reduction,
This first interview is with two recovered addict and one who is still struggling, talking about the methadone program here in Vancouver. we are all close friends who have had extensive histories with Heroin and Methadone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x72Ao1v2Z8
Next I interview a young man who has used Heroin most of his life he recently relapsed after eleven month's clean time this video is quite graphic
The Harsh Reality of Drug Addiction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNWCPDrJsM
Next we have a woman named Lisa she has been on all the current Harm reduction program's available in Vancouver's Downtown eastside
this is a sad sad story this poor woman only has her addiction to look forward to in her life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuNWCPDrJsM
Last but not least we interviewed more woman who talk about the pro's and con's of Heroin vs. Methadone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb7mAvgPz_4
You be the judge the whole reason for these videos is to bring some truth out about the addiction support services that are in use here in Vancouver. My research has been on a personal level for over twenty five years in addiction as well as these and many more video interviews. Thank you recovered addict
Recovery is for some,you have to want it
[email protected],Vancouver,B.C.Canada I have been an addict for 40 years and I have never once thought about cleaning up.The reason is simple,when I'm clean I feel like shit.Some people just don't function well and these people are never successful in treatment.People who function well when they are clean can often be successful in treatment.It is imperative that an addict not be forced into treatment before they are ready.The one exception to this is the young person.Young people should be given every chance of cleaning up.It is in this area that the majority of resources should be directed.Older addicts should be treated when they are ready.Heroin maintenance has to be a part of any attempt to deal with the problem of addiction.The attitude that a person who chooses maintenance is a tragedy is typical of reformed addicts.
Wouldn't obtaining heroin legally transform an addict's life?
Not the way breaking the addiction would, but still, not having to spend so much of their energy trying to get funds to pay black market prices, and not fearing being thrown in jail, and having caring professionals around, that sounds pretty transforming to me, with potential to lead to more. And it should lead to less black market price related crime, a very big reason for trying it.
Maintenance Programs Are Recovery
I have seen the "Ins" and "Outs" of opiate addiction and from what I've experienced, complete abstinence is not necessarily the only form of recovery. When it comes to a drug that carries with it such a profound physical addiction, such as heroin, it must be accounted for that the dependent person's brain undergoes drastic changes after prolonged use. The endorphin system of a person who has used opiate drugs like heroin for years and years has been heavily disrupted and that individual's brain often no longer produces sufficient quantities of endorphins which are essential for the simple experience of pleasure, among many other things. The damage done is often permanent, and thus, a maintenance program, such as with methadone, is required for the dependant person to function properly in society. This is where I am with my recovery - I have been on a methadone program for 4 years now and have cleaned up my life immensely. It is amazing what a positive impact methadone maintenance has had on my life. I consider myself in full recovery... but not necessarily fully recovered.
For some really good information on opioid addiction treatment, follow this link to my web-page:
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enhanced bymethadone and heroin use, the theme of my pathetic life.
my on and off use of methadone has been hell with everything increasingly getting worse , first time i did opiates was percocet and few months later was oxy-contin, sa yyear llater I met a aboriginal lady who sold dilaudid ffor a vvery reasreasonable price and i continued the use for 3years cause thats how cheap it was but then she became a little money hungry and started to charge me alot mmore aand ovover the yeyears ive seen drug prices skyrocket , i have also noticed that opiates strictly pill form have way more sideeffects then actually herion
with herion u se a dose and u sweat it out within the next 20 days with morphine u feel sick for months on end
and never sweat it out, i'm cconvinced that the pharmaceutical company s want us to be sick as possible so they can throw these bandage solutions at us.
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