Vancouver's free-heroin experiment wins praise
Thirty-year addict tells conference how heroin maintenance changed her life
Heather Travis, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, May 01, 2006
A 30-year heroin user says she is able to hold down a job and live free from the fear that she will be poisoned by bad street drugs now that she gets free drugs through an experimental program.
"I am a 30-year heroin addict," Dianne Tobin, president of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, told an international conference on Sunday. "I knew at 17 [years old], I needed heroin to get through the day."
She was obsessed with getting drugs because she had to "score" twice a day. She couldn't hold down a job.
Tobin is one of 100 users who volunteered for the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI), which gives drugs to 100 heroin addicts in Vancouver.
She says her quality of life has improved. "I don't have to go out 'scoring' to get drugs illegally," she said.
Tobin was speaking to delegates from 93 countries -- including China, Iran, Bangladesh and Malaysia -- who are in Vancouver for the International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm.
The conference is looking at solutions to drug-related problems, among them innovations in use in Vancouver, including prescription heroin, needle-exchange clinics and safe-injection sites.
The Canadian Institute of Health Research says there are 60,000 to 90,000 Canadians addicted to heroin, and says illegal drug use costs the Canadian economy more than $8 billion a year.
The NAOMI project, funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research, hopes prescription heroin can reduce harm associated with the addiction, such as disease, economic effects and social consequences.
"[Drug abuse] is one of the issues I am willing to die on," Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, a vocal supporter of harm reduction drug treatments, told the conference.
The standard treatment for heroin users is methadone maintenance therapy, but it is not always successful.
British delegate Andria Efthimiou-Mordaunt said Switzerland, which started a free heroin program in the 1990s, has demonstrated that once heroin users receive their 'fix', they can focus their concentration on other things.
She says that may provide hope for those who have failed in methadone programs.
"Once the obstacles [heroin craving] are out of the way, their life has improved," she said.
The aim of the conference is sharing ideas to improve drug treatment.
"We can really learn from each other," said Sue Currie, co-chairwoman of the conference, which runs until Thursday. "Sometimes we get stuck on what works in our community. [Each country] can offer different perspectives on the same issue."
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