Treatment for ice addicts lacks proof
Kate Benson Medical Reporter
August 20, 2007
A DOCTOR who has received more than $7 million in government grants is charging desperate ice addicts $5000 each for a controversial drug treatment - with no clinical evidence it works.
Dr George O'Neil has been described by the federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, as a man who "could end up revolutionising the way that we treat drug addiction", but his actions have incensed experts who say vulnerable addicts are being given false hope.
Dr O'Neil, a Perth general practitioner, is treating amphetamine addicts by injecting them with implants containing naltrexone - a drug which blocks the craving for opiates, such as heroin and methadone - but says his 60 per cent success rate could be due to "the encouragement, love and support they got from me … or maybe it has a placebo effect".
Several crystal methamphetamine addicts contacted Sydney drug clinics last week to say they were willing to spend up to $1000 on air fares to get the implant, after it was touted on Channel Seven's TodayTonight program as a "revolutionary treatment … that works on everything from smoking, gambling and alcohol to amphetamines and heroin".
Naltrexone has been proven to work for some heroin users and most methadone users. It has also been used successfully on alcoholics but there has never been a clinical trial on its effects on amphetamine use.
Most of Dr O'Neil's patients use both heroin and amphetamines and he admits his success could be because once a patient stops using heroin, they usually stop needing amphetamines to boost their mood.
"I may have 15 addicts and only one can pay so I give 14 free implants," he said. "If this is helping people why shouldn't I do it?"
A Sydney clinical psychologist and drug counsellor, Ross Colquhoun, said yesterday he was furious that naltrexone was being "denigrated by the sensationalist and unsupported claims of George O'Neil".
"This is a very worthwhile drug treatment for people with opiate addictions. We have spent years seeking to overcome much of the sensationalist press about 'miracle cures' and to see naltrexone used properly with well established and professional protocols and procedures that include assessment and counselling," he said.
"Using it to treat people with amphetamine addictions when there is no clinical evidence to do so is improper and it sets naltrexone up for ridicule."
Dr O'Neil owns the patent on the implant, which has not been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, but says he is not making a profit.
But the head of pharmacology at the University of Adelaide, Professor Jason White, said Dr O'Neil's actions were "unethical and disturbing".
"This just gets people's hopes up so much. Nowhere is there any evidence that supports treating people like this. The implant has not been approved by the TGA and as such [O'Neil's] claims are way too strong."
The director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW, Professor Richard Mattick, said any claim that naltrexone could cure an amphetamine addiction was baseless. "There was one study done in the United States on the effects of naltrexone on cocaine and it proved to be largely inconclusive," he said.
Dr O'Neil's Fresh Start Recovery Program, which also treats heroin and methadone users, received $2 million from the Federal Government and $5 million from the Western Australian Government for research and development last year. "Rather than scoffing, people should be more encouraging," he said. "Scoffing is not very good science."
