Materia Medica Malaysiana

New therapy for dadah addicts

PUTRAJAYA, Mar 09:

The Government is turning to drug substitution therapy, using methadone on
dadah addicts, under a plan to overhaul the conventional drug
rehabilitation system.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said a pilot study would begin next month involving 50 ex-Pusat Serenti inmates from the Klang Valley, who would be given methadone for three to six months.

Methadone suppresses the craving for the "high" obtained from drugs such as heroin, morphine and codeine.

The treatment works on the medical premise that some people may be predisposed to drug addiction because of biological deficiencies, such as their body's inability to produce natural endorphins as a response to pain.

Notably, drug substitution therapy has also helped to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other diseases spread through needle sharing.

In Malaysia, about 80 per cent of persons with HIV/AIDS contracted the disease through needle-sharing.

The treatment could change the way drug addicts were viewed here; no longer as people with social and psychological problems but as medical patients, said Chor.

"The addict will be like a patient who can take his medication and go about living a normal life.

"He will be just like a person who requires medication for diabetes or high blood pressure," he said. The pilot study is jointly conducted by the National Drug Agency, Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and Duopharma (M) Sdn Bhd, the maker and sponsor of the drug.

The Government is to decide whether the drug therapy will be adopted in its Pusat Serenti rehabilitation programmes after the pilot study.

The project is focused on ex-inmates because 75 to 80 per cent of them relapse upon release from rehabi-litation centres.

Conducted voluntarily, ex-inmates must obtain the consent of their families and moral support from their local communities or non-governmental organisations.

The idea is to make drug substitution therapy a community-based treatment, whereby an ex-addict can be treated while being an active member of society.

The Government hopes to determine the cost of treatment per person through the pilot study.

The non-monetary benefits and positive effect on society as a whole would be tremendous, said Prof Dr Muhamad Hussein Habil, UMMC's consultant on drug addiction and a Universiti Malaya professor. "It helps the ex-addict return to a normal life by stabilising his relationships with others, thus reducing crime and allowing him to work and contribute to society," said Hussein.