Drug War Chronicle, Issue #598 -(urls + editorial)- 8/21/09
B Sellers
Drug War Chronicle, Issue #598 -- 8/21/09
Phillip S. Smith, Editor, psm...@drcnet.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598
A Publication of Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)
David Borden, Executive Director, bor...@drcnet.org
"Raising Awareness of the Consequences of Drug Prohibition"
BOOK OFFER: This is Your Country on Drugs:
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/book_offer_this_is_your_country_on_drugs
Table of Contents:
1. FEATURE: HEROIN MORE EFFECTIVE THAN METHADONE FOR SOME
ADDICTS, NAOMI STUDY REPORTS
A research report from the North American Opiate Maintenance
Initiative (NAOMI) published this week in the New England
Journal of Medicine finds that heroin is more effective than
methadone for some hard-core addicts, but also that Dilaudid may
work just as well. The report should only add to rising pressure
to expand opiate maintenance programs in the US.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/naomi_study_research_report
2. DRUG WAR CHRONICLE BOOK REVIEW: "MARIJUANA IS SAFER -- SO WHY
ARE DRIVING PEOPLE TO DRINK?" BY PAUL ARMENTANO, STEVE FOX, AND
MASON TVERT (2009, CHELSEA GREEN PUBLISHERS, 209 PP., $14.95
PB)
Three prominent marijuana reform activists have penned a very
valuable new book, "Marijuana Is Safer -- So Why Are We Driving
People to Drink?" They make a compelling argument, and they do
it very nicely.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/book_review_marijuana_safer_armentano_fox_tvert
3. FEATURE: SEATTLE HEMPFEST BIGGER THAN EVER IN 2009, BUT
GAINING CRITICS
Last weekend's Seattle Hempfest is likely to have been the
biggest one yet, as multitudes swarmed the waterfront for the
two-day bash. But there are critics aiming at it, including a
leading drug reformer and a former Hempfest organizer.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/seattle_hempfest_2009
4. ANNOUNCEMENT: THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL DRUG POLICY REFORM
CONFERENCE, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, NOVEMBER 12-14
Every two years drug policy reformers from across the United
States and around the world come to the International Drug
Policy Reform Conference to listen, learn, network and
strategize together for change. This year the conference is in
Albuquerque, in November, and StoptheDrugWar.org is a partner.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/2009_international_drug_policy_reform_conference_albuquerque_new_mexico
5. BOOK OFFER: THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY ON DRUGS
As part of our summer fundraising drive, DRCNet is pleased to
offer Ryan Grim's exciting new book, "This Is Your Country on
Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America," as our
latest membership premium. Things are happening, and the
importance of your support at this time could not be greater.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/book_offer_this_is_your_country_on_drugs
6. LATIN AMERICA: MEXICAN DECRIMINALIZATION BILL NOW LAW OF THE
LAND
A bill that decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of
drug for personal use is now the law of the land in Mexico.
Although there was some doubt President Calderon would approve
it, it appeared in the official gazette Thursday. It also
includes provisions to allow the state and localities to go
after small-time drug dealers, a power previously reserved to
the federal government.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/mexico_decriminalization_law_enacted
7. LATIN AMERICA: MEXICAN DRUG WAR UPDATE
There seems to be no end in sight to prohibition-related
violence in Mexico. In fact, it just keeps getting worse.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/mexico_drug_war_update
8. LAW ENFORCEMENT: THIS WEEK'S CORRUPT COPS STORIES
A quiet week on the corrupt cops front, but the two stories we
do have share a common theme: problems with snitches.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/police_drug_corruption
9. FEDERAL BUDGET: SAFE AND DRUG-FREE SCHOOLS FUNDS STILL
TARGETED FOR ZEROING OUT
The Obama administration wants to eliminate the Safe and
Drug-Free Schools competitive grants program because it is
ineffective. So does the House of Representatives. But can
proponents revive it in the Senate or conference committee?
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/safe_drug_free_schools_funding_cut
10. MEDICAL MARIJUANA: IOWA PUBLIC HEARINGS GET UNDERWAY
Largely impelled by tireless medical marijuana advocate Carl
Olsen, the Iowa Pharmacy Board Wednesday held the first in a
series of public hearings about possibly rescheduling marijuana
so it could be used as a medicine under state law.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/iowa_medical_marijuana_public_hearing
11. EAST ASIA: JAPANESE MARIJUANA ARRESTS AT RECORD LEVELS
Despite tough pot laws and harsh public condemnations of
marijuana use in the media, Japan continues to see increasing
numbers of marijuana arrests.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/japan_record_marijuana_arrests
12. SOUTHEAST ASIA: MALAYSIA COURT SENTENCES WOMAN TO DEATH FOR
TWO POUNDS OF MARIJUANA
The death penalty for a couple pounds of pot?!?! It happened in
Malaysia this week, and it's not the first time, either.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/death_sentence_malaysia_two_pounds_marijuana
13. WEEKLY: THIS WEEK IN HISTORY
Events and quotes of note from this week's drug policy events of
years past.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/drug_war_history
14. FEEDBACK: DO YOU READ DRUG WAR CHRONICLE?
Do you read Drug War Chronicle? If so, we need your feedback to
evaluate our work and make the case for Drug War Chronicle to
funders. We need donations too.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/do_you_read_drug_war_chronicle
15. STUDENTS: INTERN AT STOPTHEDRUGWAR.ORG (DRCNET) AND HELP
STOP THE DRUG WAR!
Apply for an internship at DRCNet and you could spend a semester
fighting the good fight!
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/drcnet_internships_to_stop_the_drug_war
(Not subscribed? Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org to sign up
today!)
================
1. Feature: Heroin More Effective Than Methadone for Some
Addicts, NAOMI Study Reports
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/598/naomi_study_research_report
In a report
(http://www.naomistudy.ca/pdfs/NAOMI_release_Oct%2017-08.pdf)
that was actually completed last October but not published until
this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers
from the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI --
http://www.naomistudy.org) found that giving heroin under
supervision to some hard-core drug addicts was more effective
than giving them methadone. The study's publication in the
prestigious peer-reviewed journal is already leading to calls
for experiments with heroin maintenance in the US. To qualify
for the study, participants had to have been addicted to heroin,
Dilaudid, or another opiate for at least five years, have been
injecting for at least the past year, have tried addiction
treatment, including methadone maintenance, at least twice, and
be at least 25 years of age. While researchers were loathe to
generalize their findings, they described heroin maintenance as
"a safe and effective treatment" for chronic addicts who have
not taken to other forms of treatment.
In the NAOMI project, researchers monitored 251 heroin addicts
in Vancouver and Montreal and provided them with maintenance
drugs for a year under the supervision of nurses, doctors,
social workers, and psychiatrists. One hundred fifteen received
pharmaceutical heroin (diacetylmorphine), 111 received
methadone, and 25 received Dilaudid (hydromorphone).
Among participants who received heroin by injection, 88%
completed the program compared to 54% of those receiving oral
methadone. Similarly, illicit drug use rates dropped by 67%
among those receiving heroin, compared to 48% among those
receiving methadone.
"Our data show remarkable retention rates and significant
improvements in illicit heroin use, illegal activity and health
for participants receiving injection assisted therapy, as well
as those assigned to optimized methadone maintenance," said Dr.
Martin Schechter, principal investigator for the Center for
Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences at the University of
British Columbia School of Population and Public Health and
NAOMI's lead researcher. "Prior to NAOMI, all of the study
participants had not benefited from repeated standard addiction
treatments. Society had basically written them off as impossible
to treat," he said.
"We now have evidence to show that heroin-assisted therapy is a
safe and effective treatment for people with chronic heroin
addiction who have not benefited from previous treatments. A
combination of optimal therapies -- as delivered in the NAOMI
clinics -- can attract those most severely addicted to heroin,
keep them in treatment and more importantly, help to improve
their social and medical conditions," explained Schechter.
The NAOMI research results mirror similar findings from a number
of European countries, a fact noted in a Journal editorial by
Virginia Berridge. "The results of this trial may be added to
those from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland,"
Berridge wrote. "Switzerland has 10 years of experience in the
prescription of heroin, and in a November 2008 referendum, 68%
of voters were in favor of its continued prescription."
The NAOMI findings, along with earlier work from Europe, are
relevant to the United States. According to government figures,
nearly 700,000 Americans are heroin users, and 15% to 25% of
them are heavy users who could benefit from prescription heroin.
But heroin is a Schedule I drug under the US Controlled
Substances Act, which means it cannot legally be prescribed.
That is unlikely to change anytime soon. Even allowing for a
pilot program would require political decisions that are
unlikely to be made in the foreseeable future.
That needs to change, said advocates of evidence-based drug
policies. "The NAOMI results are clear that prescription heroin
reduces crime, and overdose deaths," said Laura Thomas, deputy
state director of the Drug Policy Alliance
(http://www.drugpolicy.org). "The reason this effective
treatment isn't available in the United States right now is
politics. The science is there."
"The success of NAOMI, combined with similar results in other
countries, leaves little question that heroin prescription would
reduce crime, and overdose fatalities in the United States as
well," added DPA executive director Ethan Nadelmann. "Recent
votes in Germany and Switzerland, combined with similar evidence
of public support in other countries, show that the public will
support even controversial drug policies when they have proven
results. There is no question that heroin prescription programs
are needed and long overdue in this country. All that stands in
the way is ideology and the backward assumption that it can
never happen in the United States."
It wasn't just DPA wondering about more effective forms of drug
treatment. In a blog post titled Prescription Heroin?
(http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/prescription-heroin),
New York Times science columnist John Tierney asked just that:
Is it time for prescription heroin in the US? He didn't provide
an answer, but the fact that the question is being asked by
someone like Tierney is suggestive.
And if not prescription heroin, what about Dilaudid? It is
Schedule II and can be prescribed, although not, under current
law, for maintenance purposes. Schecter and his fellow
researchers found that NAOMI participants could not distinguish
it from heroin and that it appeared to be equally effective.
================
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