The lead doctor at a Vancouver clinic that provides medical-grade heroin and another legal opioid to treat long-term heroin addicts is hopeful the work of the clinic will expand.
“I don’t want to be the only one,” said Dr. Scott MacDonald, lead physician at Providence Health Care’s Crosstown Clinic.
“More people need access to this. I think it will save lives, reduce suffering, and reduce public disorder.”
Earlier this year, 202 Crosstown patients were involved in a trial called SALOME, whose Principal Investigator is Dr. Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, where they received injectable hydromorphone and diacetylmorphine on a regular basis.
“People who are engaged in illicit heroin use daily, after six months of treatment, that goes down to just four days a month. At the beginning, people were involved in illegal activities 14 days a month…at the end of their time in the study, that had been reduced to just four, five days,” said MacDonald.
“Change does not happen in days or weeks. It takes months and years, but we’re seeing positive changes and health benefits in our patients.”
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Many of the patients continue to receive treatment, including Russell Cooper, an addict for 30 years.
“I can wake up without worrying. Before, I had to wake up, the first thing was on my mind was taking care of that addiction, that craving,” he said.
“People like Scott put time in, above and beyond the call of duty…It’s not just giving me dope, it’s making sure my housing is taken care of. There’s a lot of different aspects to addiction.”
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Last month, MacDonald went to Washington D.C., testifying to the Senate’s Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs about the effectiveness of the program.
“The senators listened very attentively. I’m not sure there was pushback. They had questions…about the benefits or our treatment, and who it helps, and what the long term goals of treatment are. We have evidence to support this treatment, and that’s what they were interested in, and I simply responded to the questions,” he said.
More than than 47,000 died from drug overdoses in the United States in 2014, mostly from opioid pain relievers and heroin. In B.C., fentanyl, Oxycontin and other illicit drugs have been responsible for more than 300 overdose deaths this year alone.
This motivates MacDonald to keep pushing his research, and to keep advocating for its effects.
“The opioid crisis is growing in British Columbia. It’s important that we attract and engage the most vulnerable in care, and some people simply require an intensified treatment with an injectable treatment option like this. It’s safe and effective,” he said.