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02-10-2005, 11:29 AM
Canada tests radical cure for drug addiction
10:41 PM PST on Wednesday, February 9, 2005
By LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News (http://www.king5.com/localnews/specialassignments/stories/NW_020905SR_KINGONLYheroinJK.911fe8fe.html)
Looking at Vancouver's cosmopolitan skyline, it's hard to envision the dark world of addiction that rules the city's downtown eastside, a world of heroin users shooting up in the streets, in the shadow of darkness and the glare of broad daylight.
Hoping to stem the troubling epidemic of crime and disease, the Canadian government is embarking on a controversial experiment: supplying drugs to heroin addicts. And Vancouver, B.C. is the first Canadian city to take part in the study.
Some 60,000 to 90,000 Canadians are addicted to heroin.
But starting Wednesday, Feb. 9, Vancouver officials began handing out injection kits and even inviting addicts to shoot up in a "safe room," a supervised injection site located two blocks from the police station.
Epidemiologist Martin Schechter is leading a year-long experiment supplying heroin to addicts who've failed in traditional methadone treatment and returned to a life of street drugs.
In all, 470 addicts will be enrolled in the study, The North American Opiate Medication Initiative.
Half of those will be given pharmaceutical-grade heroin before transitioning to methadone. The other half will be given methadone from the start.
"This is not glamorous, not something you would choose. They want out but they need help," he says Schechter.
"They are injecting heroin, whether they do it with us in the study or here, so it's not like we'll be creating new heroin users," he says. "We're trying to get them off the street and eventually get them well."
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/M_IMAGE.101688cd0b5.93.88.fa.7c.9159b7c2.jpg (http://www.king5.com/localnews/specialassignments/stories/NW_020905SR_KINGONLYheroinJK.911fe8fe.html)
Vancouver officials began handing out injection kits and even inviting addicts to shoot up in a "safe room."
Schecter believes that to do that you have to take the crime out of the drug use.
"What we've been doing isn't working and this problem is getting worse not better. I'm passionate about finding us new approaches, getting us out of this quagmire."
And the problem does seem to be escalating. The level of drug violence shocks even seasoned officers on the street.
In one video, taped by a concerned citizen, an organized gang of drug addicts can be seen robbing an elderly man beaten almost unconscious for his money and meager possessions.
Similar incidents have convinced chief Constable Jamie Graham that the heroin study is worth a try.
"Who knows? I can tell you the war on drugs up to now has had limited success," Graham said.
Vancouver's mayor Larry Campbell agrees, bristling at critics who charge that the government will be enabling addicts by supplying them drugs.
"Here's your choice: We can give them drugs and they can get stabilized, or we can not give them drugs and they can break into your house, rip off your purse, they could get HIV which is going to cost you $150,000 a year. And at the end of the day, you're no further ahead," Campbell said.
Campbell said researchers in Europe found that when supplied drugs legally, even the most hard core addicts were more likely to lead stable lives and get jobs. And when they got into treatment they were more likely to stick with it and kick the habit.
And now everyone from the mayor to the police chief supports it. They argue that something has to be done about the estimated 10,000 IV drug users wreaking havoc in their city.
There's no talk of a similar study any time soon in the U.S., where more than 300,000 people reported using heroin in 2003. Nevertheless, U.S. researchers concluded it would be political suicide to attempt a similar study and would never get funded.
10:41 PM PST on Wednesday, February 9, 2005
By LINDA BYRON / KING 5 News (http://www.king5.com/localnews/specialassignments/stories/NW_020905SR_KINGONLYheroinJK.911fe8fe.html)
Looking at Vancouver's cosmopolitan skyline, it's hard to envision the dark world of addiction that rules the city's downtown eastside, a world of heroin users shooting up in the streets, in the shadow of darkness and the glare of broad daylight.
Hoping to stem the troubling epidemic of crime and disease, the Canadian government is embarking on a controversial experiment: supplying drugs to heroin addicts. And Vancouver, B.C. is the first Canadian city to take part in the study.
Some 60,000 to 90,000 Canadians are addicted to heroin.
But starting Wednesday, Feb. 9, Vancouver officials began handing out injection kits and even inviting addicts to shoot up in a "safe room," a supervised injection site located two blocks from the police station.
Epidemiologist Martin Schechter is leading a year-long experiment supplying heroin to addicts who've failed in traditional methadone treatment and returned to a life of street drugs.
In all, 470 addicts will be enrolled in the study, The North American Opiate Medication Initiative.
Half of those will be given pharmaceutical-grade heroin before transitioning to methadone. The other half will be given methadone from the start.
"This is not glamorous, not something you would choose. They want out but they need help," he says Schechter.
"They are injecting heroin, whether they do it with us in the study or here, so it's not like we'll be creating new heroin users," he says. "We're trying to get them off the street and eventually get them well."
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/M_IMAGE.101688cd0b5.93.88.fa.7c.9159b7c2.jpg (http://www.king5.com/localnews/specialassignments/stories/NW_020905SR_KINGONLYheroinJK.911fe8fe.html)
Vancouver officials began handing out injection kits and even inviting addicts to shoot up in a "safe room."
Schecter believes that to do that you have to take the crime out of the drug use.
"What we've been doing isn't working and this problem is getting worse not better. I'm passionate about finding us new approaches, getting us out of this quagmire."
And the problem does seem to be escalating. The level of drug violence shocks even seasoned officers on the street.
In one video, taped by a concerned citizen, an organized gang of drug addicts can be seen robbing an elderly man beaten almost unconscious for his money and meager possessions.
Similar incidents have convinced chief Constable Jamie Graham that the heroin study is worth a try.
"Who knows? I can tell you the war on drugs up to now has had limited success," Graham said.
Vancouver's mayor Larry Campbell agrees, bristling at critics who charge that the government will be enabling addicts by supplying them drugs.
"Here's your choice: We can give them drugs and they can get stabilized, or we can not give them drugs and they can break into your house, rip off your purse, they could get HIV which is going to cost you $150,000 a year. And at the end of the day, you're no further ahead," Campbell said.
Campbell said researchers in Europe found that when supplied drugs legally, even the most hard core addicts were more likely to lead stable lives and get jobs. And when they got into treatment they were more likely to stick with it and kick the habit.
And now everyone from the mayor to the police chief supports it. They argue that something has to be done about the estimated 10,000 IV drug users wreaking havoc in their city.
There's no talk of a similar study any time soon in the U.S., where more than 300,000 people reported using heroin in 2003. Nevertheless, U.S. researchers concluded it would be political suicide to attempt a similar study and would never get funded.