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1. Concerted Efforts To Respond to Hurricane Katrina Victims
An email message from Robert Lubran of CSAT summarizes the many efforts of government,provider groups and individuals to respond to the crisis of those in the Gulf region dependent on opiates - either methadone or buprenorphine prescribed for the treatment of dependence or pain, or illegal drugs such as heroin.
For full story click here
2. Plight of Opiate Dependent- To our knowledge this is the first media coverage of the special catastrophe for opiate dependent persons associated with the hurricane and floods in Gulf States.
If you are not member of the Chicago Tribune site it will require you to register. The process is quick and free. full text
3. Disasters Yet to Come: A Timely Article-
A very timely article appears in the Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the
New York Academy of Medicine, Vol.82, No.3 on the Iranian Response to the
December 2003 earthquake that devasted Bam, Iran - as it affected thousands of
opium-dependent individuals. It has an other-worldly quality - with government
and individuals and ngo's gathering within days to provide morphine injections,
methadone, opium etc-and most of the dependent indviduals sustaining their
dependence and avoiding withdrawal through steady gifts of opium from strangers.
Immediate mobilization of researchers/clinicians to interview, analyze and
ultimately report what happened - under strict instructions to keep it short and
not torture the poor victims of the earthquake with endless research questions.
For the full article full text
4. MALAYSIA: Starting Methadone Treatment - PUTRAJAYA,
Sept. 02'05 (Bernama) -- A pioneer project using methadone, a synthetic drug, to treat hardcore drug addicts will be launched next month. The government approved the project Sept 2, after deferring to next year the implementation of a proposal to provide free syringes and condoms to drug addicts to curb the spread of AIDS, National Anti-Drug Agency Director-General Datuk Hamzah Abdullah said Friday. He said the methadone treatment would be tried out for six months for 1,200 hardcore addicts who would be given free methadone at 10 clinics nationwide.
. For the complete story click here
5. AUSTRALIA: Route of Heroin Administration- Darke et al. Twelve month outcomes... Drug and Alc Rev Mar. 2005, 24:165-171
There is no correlation with treatment outcome. A study from Sydney reviewed outcomes of a variety of medication-based and drug-free treatments, ambulatory and residential, for patients who had used IV heroin and those who had used by non-injectable routes. The findings: no significant differences 12 months after admission in amount of heroin use, severity, or levels of polydrug use. Nor was there a difference in retention, total treatment days, or criminal history during the observation period.
6. NEW YORK, USA: Columbia University Study on Ultra Rapid Detox - There is strong empirical and theoretical justification for providing safe and effective detoxification to heroin-dependent individuals who want it. But to do so with the expectation that abstinence, once achieved (by any and all means),
will be maintained subsequently flies in the face of consistent
experience throughout the world for decades. Nor does post-detox naltrexone - even when patients
comply with the regimen - change this grim prognosis. One must wonder, as Dr. Byrne does, what
this study was all about, and whether "subjects" knew that the key endpoint was likelihood of
entering a treatment that is known to have a dismal track record.
For full letter click here
7. NEW YORK, USA: NY Passes Law Designed to
Reduce Opioid Drug Overdose Deaths - New Legislation Provides Protection for People Prescribing or Administering Narcan, the Medication That Reverses Opioid Overdose, And Will Establish a Statewide Reporting and Monitoring System
Life-Saving Law Greatly Needed: Six Overdose Deaths in Manhattan In the Past Few Weeks; More Than 900 Deaths in NYC Last Year.
On August 2, 2005, Governor Pataki signed a life-saving bill that will keep hundreds of New Yorkers from dying of overdoses from opioid drugs such as heroin and OxyContin. Approximately 900 people died from overdoses in New York City last year alone. This bill, A.7162 (Dinowitz) / S. 4869 (Hannon), will offer legal protection for anyone who prescribes or administers Narcan (naloxone hydrochloride injection), a drug that prevents opioid overdose.
For story click here
8. USA: Reading, Pennsylvania - NIMBY Wins Court Victory -
Denial of permission to open a methadone treatment facility was ok'd, not withstanding federal anti-discrimination rules that purport to protect the rights of those with disabilities (defined as including patients receiving treatment for addiction). The rationale: rejecting the proposed facility was said to be based on concern over loitering and impact on traffic. Case name: New Directions Treatment Services, et al. v. Reading, City of, et al., 31 NDLR 16 (E.D. Pa. 2005).
9. EDITORIAL: A Life-Saving Voice of Reality- An editorial appeared in the Salt Lake (USA) Tribune 22 August in strong support
of harm reduction efforts in the drug field. The following excerpt is typical:
"No matter how many laws we pass or how many prisons we build, no matter how many dedicated police officers and brave DEA agents seek to enforce those laws and fill those prisons, drug abuse is not a law enforcement problem susceptible to a law enforcement solution. It is a public health problem that will only be addressed - addressed, not eliminated - with a public health approach."
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