Groundbreaking Addiction Research Trial Ramps Up in January

More Vancouver Participants Than Originally Anticipated

Inner Change received our Christmas present early this year with confirmation in June from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research that they will invest $1 million to support our medical trial to offer people with heroin addiction in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES) a legal medicine in pill and injectable forms as an alternative to injectable heroin.

This study to assess the effectiveness of longer-term Hydromorphone medication (SALOME) will allow some of the world's leading addictions researchers to follow-up on the groundbreaking results of the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI) which were published this summer in the New England Journal of Medicine. NAOMI was a carefully controlled clinical trial which tested whether medically prescribed heroin could successfully attract and retain street-heroin users who have not benefited from previous repeated attempts at participating in methadone maintenance and abstinence programs. NAOMI concluded that new substitution treatment alternatives to methadone can:

  • improve health outcomes for long term chronic addicts who have not benefited from previous repeated attempts at participating in methadone and abstinence programs
  • significantly reduce crime in our community
  • save both the justice & health care systems millions of taxpayer dollars

Here are the details:

SALOME Starts

After spending the better part of 2009 working on funding and various regulatory approvals, SALOME will likely be moving into our implementation phase prior to the start of the Winter Olympic and Parlaympic Games.

In January the research team will be working ensuring that the Vancouver clinic satisfies the various specifications required under federal regulations. They will also maintain ongoing discussions with regulatory authorities to ensure SALOME complies with the protocols required with an innovative project like this.

Also in January, Inner Change will initiate a series of community information sessions with DTES community stakeholders, the media, business leaders and Chinese community to:

  • recap project goals and objectives
  • highlight rules, procedures & research methods
  • describe intake & eligibility process
  • discuss ongoing consultation options

More Vancouver Participants

As happy as we are to report the start of SALOME, we are equally excited about the fact that we will be able to offer addiction treatment to more people in Vancouver than we originally anticipated. The current projection indicates that 322 participants will be involved in the trial over four years.

With the collaboration of government partners, private donors, community leaders and our research team, we will have an opportunity to reach over 322 people for who have not benefited from all other avaiable programs. In addition to reducing the illegal heroin profits of organized crime, we can re-build lives and show the world that Vancouver is doing everything it can to help many of our most vulnerable citizens.

With the world arriving at our doorstep in the New Year, we know the rampant drug addiction and mental illness problems in the DTES will be a black eye for our city. At the same time it will be an opportunity to highlight SALOME and other innovative initiatives as a demonstration of how Vancouver is on the leading edge of international addictions research for a population in desperate need of alternate health options.

SALOME: What others have said lately:

"It's really valid research and it opens up options for different treatment. If you could substitute Hydromorphone, that doesn't have the stigma or the regulatory hoops you have to go through if you are importing heroin, it becomes a lot more feasible and a lot cheaper."

- Dr. Perry Kendall, Chief Provincial Health Officer, Province of British Columbia

"When you combine our findings with the findings of the NAOMI study, it's pretty clear not only do the people in the program benefit, but we all benefit. The participants are involved in less crime and there is no impact on the community."

- Prof. Neil Boyd, Simon Fraser University Criminologist

"If we can show this works, why wouldn't we move towards that kind of help for people who are addicts. Is there really any difference from one disease to another - or from one addiction to another? Anything that thinking people can do to help people get rid of that illness is a good idea. This is a non-partisan thing. This is about people helping people."

- Hon. John Reynolds, former Conservative MP and BC Social Credit Cabinet Minister

"Our government recognizes that injection drug users need assistance. That's why we are investing in prevention and treatment, to help people recover from their drug addictions."

- Ms. Josée Bellemare, Office of the federal Minister of Health


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