Canadian Study Encouraging to Medical Heroin Backers

By Rachel Stockton (rachels@foodconsumer.org)

Although several states have legalized medical marijuana, the practice is still frowned upon by the federal government.

In Canada, a new breakthrough study (published by the New England Journal of Medicine) that could have long term implications for heroin addicts has been conducted with surprisingly favorable results.  The researchers experimented with medical heroin as a treatment option to help cure addicts for whom traditional treatment has been a wash.

The need for such experimentation is the fact that while methadone is the standard addiction treatment for heroin addicts, up to 25% of them do not respond well to the drug.

For the study, 251 heroin addicts were divided into three groups.  The first, consisting of 111 patients, were given standard doses of methadone. 115 patients were given medical heroin, and 25 were given Dilaudid, a narcotic pain medication that is similar to medical heroin.

The case for medical heroin was undeniable:  67% of those given the drug stayed in treatment, while only 48% of methadone patients remained.

The goal of implementing medical heroin is two-fold; not only do researchers and Canadian addiction specialists think it is a viable alternative in helping addicts achieve recovery, they also emphasize that by eliminating the perceived "need" for street drugs by substituting them with "sterile" heroin, the black market would be dealt quite a crippling blow. Additionally, addicts who overdose will do so in a controlled environment where medical intervention can save them from certain death.

And while it's not likely that medical heroin will be approved as a treatment option in the United States, Dilaudid HAS been given the "ok" and has similar effects to heroin; the implications here are obvious.

The 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 3.7 million people in the United States have used heroin at some point in their lives. That same year it was determined that 54% of those who used heroin in 2002 had become dependent on it.  If that weren't bad enough, there were over 93,000 emergency room visits due to heroin overdose in 2002.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) encourages awareness of the prevalence of heroin abuse.  Families can help ward off addiction by:

*Establishing strong bonds between parents and children

*Maintaining parental involvement in a child's life

*Providing clear limits and consistently enforcing discipline.