From: [C reuters] at [clari.net] (Reuters)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.british_isles.uk,clari.news.alcohol+drugs,clari.world.europe.british_isles
Subject: Addicts can come off heroin while asleep
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1996 10:00:29 PDT
Expires: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 10:00:29 PDT
                                         
         LONDON (Reuter) - Addicts can be taken off heroin by  
anesthetizing them and giving them an antidote, a medical 
conference was told Tuesday. 
         When they wake up six to eight hours later they no longer  
suffer the physical effects of drug withdrawal. 
         ``The worst is all over in a few hours,'' said British  
psychiatrist Dr. Colin Brewer. 
         Brewer said that many addicts found it hard to give up  
heroin and other drugs because they experienced withdrawal 
reactions. Most went back on drugs if they had the chance. 
         ``One of the advantages of this method is that addicts can't  
drop out once they have started the process because they are 
asleep,'' he told an international conference of psychiatrists. 
         Brewer said patients could either be anesthetized or sedated  
and then given the drug naltrexone which neutralized the heroin 
or other drugs left in the body. If more drugs were taken during 
the following four days, they had no effect. 
         ``It gets the addicts over the first big hurdle,'' Brewer  
said. ``There is still the problem of keeping the addict away 
from drugs and many will start taking drugs again in the 
following weeks or months unless they are carefully managed.'' 
         Brewer said the most promising approach was to get addicts  
to continue taking the antidote under the supervision of a 
family member. 
         The conference organized by the Association of European  
Psychiatrists and Britain's Royal College of Psychiatrists is 
being attended by 3,500 delegates.