CRAN (le Centre de recherche et d'aide pour narcomanes) of Montreal and ICAAT partnership results in newly launched Web portal for francophone community. This French Portal for Healthcare Professionals delivers pertinent information on treatment of opiate addiction with all forms of substitution treatment. The site will allow professionals engaged or interested in the treatment of opioid dependence, in the greater francophone community, to access pertinent and up- to-date information. Visit the website.

The Ministry of Health in China reported it intends to increase by 300 the number of needle exchange facilities by the end of the calendar year (there were only 91 such services at the end of 2005). It “cited drastic declines in the number of addicts who shared needles in the areas where clinics operate as the impetus for the wider implementation.” The Ministry also "plans to open more methadone clinics to assist addicts in fighting their addiction.” (EIU ViewWire Select, October 9, 2006) According to the Xinhua news service (Oct 19), China opened 206 methadone clinics between July and September this year bringing the total to 307. The methadone treatment program was initiated in 2003, and now covers about two thirds of all China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. More

The current 7-state, 4 -year “pilot” ends December 2006 and the highest federal drug authority, Sabine Baetzing, is urging rapid action to continue heroin availability. It was noted that this is consistent with a recommendation made by a joint federal-state working group, and reflects the favorable results of the trial.

The Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA) is providing a national voice for people working to reduce the harm caused by alcohol and other drugs. In an ACDA posting of 15 Oct there’s an announcement of the “11th Annual Remembrance Ceremony ‘for those who lose their lives to illicit drugs’”. A key focus is the condemnation of policies that “deny treatment and help on the ground that to do so would ‘normalize’ drug use” – e.g., that providing sterile needles and syringes, safe injection sites and opiate agonist treatment “endorses” the use of drugs.

Pharmacies in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (population in 2001 less than 150,000 according to Wikipedia), play a critical role in providing methadone maintenance treatment. "More than 300 people on the Island make the trip every day to their local pharmacy for a drink of methadone." The United States would do well to reconsider the absolute ban against pharmacy involvement in methadone maintenance that has reigned here for four decades.

An article in Tagespiegel on 28 Sept. (brought to our attention by Hans-Guenter Meyer-Thompson) summarizes the markedly different conditions of availability in the two countries: in France, prescriptions for 7 unit doses available from any physician, with no effort to prevent patients seeing more than one physician concurrently. In Germany, buprenorphine is legally available since 2000 – but as a “narcotic” and thus, like methadone, only available pursuant to strict regulations. It’s estimated that if each recipient of buprenorphine prescriptions in the city of Strassburg alone were to take no more than the maximum recommended dosage, the national insurance would save 1.2 million Euro (about $1.6 million) in its payments for prescriptions. The article concludes that the French are considering imposing harsh restrictions on buprenorphine such as exist in Germany – which might dramatically reduce “diversion” but at a tragic cost to patients, and society at large, in France!

An evaluation study just released by ARUD Zurich found one-third of patients using cocaine daily at time of admission, and another third using intermittently. Use declined significantly during treatment, with the sharpest drop in the first three months. Methadone dosage was not associated with likelihood of in-treatment cocaine use.

The international petition and the different letters received against such reclassification were successful in reversing the government decision: during the AIDS World Conference in Toronto, the French Ministry of Health officially declared that buprenorphine will NOT be reclassified in France. Other initiatives are now ongoing, such as the resolution to expand access to a wider spectrum of substitution treatment options (also in primary care) and the creation of a committee charged to propose solutions for buprenorphine trafficking and diversion.