NEWS: Daily Telegraph - 18/10/2006 'ADHD drugs for Ice addicts'

[hoptis]

ADHD drugs for Ice addicts
By Clare Masters
October 18, 2006 12:00am

A SYDNEY hospital will treat Ice addicts with ADHD drugs as the Government battles with the rising amphetamine epidemic.

The move comes as Australian scientists prepare to explore whether ADHD medication given in childhood increases the risk of drug and alcohol abuse later in life.

St Vincents Hospital will treat a small number of Ice addicts with Ritalin and dexamphetamine - the same medications used to treat ADHD.

The treatments will be trialled at the new 20-bed detoxification unit to be opened as part of the State Government's $600,000 plan to tackle the increasing number of methamphetamine users.

"It is the same principle of giving nicotine to people who are trying to stop smoking or methadone to people trying to give up heroin," St Vincents alcohol and drug service's Dr Alex Wodak said.

"You choose a drug similar to the drug they are trying to give up."

Dexamphetamine and crystal methamphetamine belong to the same pharmaceutical family but the illegal version is stronger, unpredictable and quick-acting.

"We use lower doses for dexamphetamine for ADHD than those using street amphetamines," Dr Wodak said.

He said there had been a 60 per cent increase in amphetamine psychosis since 2000.

Family Drug Support helpline founder Tony Trimingham said: "It's gone from around 2 per cent of our calls in July last year to almost 20 per cent 12 months later. There has been a dramatic surge."

FDS counsellor and ex-Ice user Kane, 25, said most users were unaware of the dangerous side-effects of the drug.

"It is so easy to have too much and difficult to have enough. It is much more intense (than speed) but also much more intoxicating," he said.

The link between medicated ADHD children and adult illicit amphetamine users is one being explored overseas.

The US's National Institute on Drug Abuse studies show ADHD children have higher rates of becoming drug and alcohol abusers.

"Two possible explanations have been suggested. First, the disorder itself may be responsible. Alternatively, the medications used to treat the disorder may be to blame," one report reads.

The National Drug and Alcohol Research Council is hoping to start the first Australian research and has just put in a funding request to the National Health and Medical Research Council.

"This is an area of research in America - because of class action suits - but we have done very little research in Australia," NDARC researcher Paul Dillon said.

"We have put in a funding request looking at prevalence of ADHD among illicit drug users and the possible link between the two."

News.com.au

 

[mepat1111]

It was only a matter of time before this started happening as far as I'm concerned. Hopefully it will be sucessful, though it's missing many of the benefits vs ice that methadone and buprenorphine have vs heroin.

 

[mikeyakame]

at least they are finally going in the right direction towards treating people instead of just locking them in a room and pumping them full of anti-psychotic dopamine antagonists and sedatives until they calm down and get a grip on reality. unfortunately there is no easy way to treat amphetamine addiction, even though it doesnt have the same intense physical withdrawals that short acting opiates like diacteylmorphine and morphine do, the psychoactive components of withdrawal are more than enough to push most users over the edge and land right where they started from. dextroamphetamine & methylphenidate are decent half assed alternatives to nothing in the treatment of meth addiction, but are a far cry from pharmacotherapy treatments such as methadone & buprenorphine, (when the hell are they going to start using pharmaceutical morphine sulfate under supervision to treat people who want help getting off long acting opiates, health department are a pack of hyenas, hungry and stupid), the use of dopamine/norepinephrine agonists and or reuptake inhibitors along with mood stabilisers such as sodium valproate, and benzo/non-benzo hypnotics seems more logical along with dexamphetamine/methylphenidate therapies to help the addict gradually return to a normal life. using sympathimometic amines and their derivatives to treat amphetamine addiction is a nice idea, which unfortunately doesnt look as good as does it on paper in clinical settings on real people. we're not living in the ice age because we're still stuck in the stone age.