The treatment is available to all users at the injecting facility,which has 5000 clients.
Many of the clients found that other treatments,such as methadone and short-acting buprenorphine,which lasts 24 hours,were too easy to miss because they were needed so regularly.
Credit:Jon Reid
Associate Professor Suzanne Nielsen,deputy director of the Monash Addiction Research Centre,said all the opioid treatments were well proven and had strong results but long-acting depot buprenorphine had significant advantages.
“Our current treatment system generally requires that people need to attend a pharmacy most days,if not every day,which is an enormous impost on people,” she said. “It’s also expensive,because people need to pay a fee every time they attend the pharmacy.
“Long-acting,buprenorphine options are a game changer,they will make treatments hugely more accessible.
“We just want to remember that they’re not going to be the right option for everyone.”
A study published in medical journalThe Lancetin 2019 found participants achieved 42.7 per cent abstinence from heroin while on the monthly injections. Employment rates rose by up to 11 per cent over the 24-week study period.
Associate Professor Nielsen said users who were not officially abstaining were still success stories by cutting back from using multiple times a day to just once a week.
“That’s not counted as abstinence,but that’s an incredible reduction and has huge gains for people’s health.”
Dr Clark was surprised the treatment was successful with such marginalised clients,who were able to stabilise their lives.
One participant trying depot buprenorphine said it was the longest he had been clean.
“It’s not a cure,but it’s close to a cure. It feels like it is,” the participant said,in an interview with staff last May.
Professor Louisa Degenhardt,deputy director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre,agreed results showed a strong reduction in heroin usage.
But she stressed the treatment did not suit everyone and people could not stop it immediately if they wanted to because the injections were long-acting.
A survey of 402 heroin users in Australia in 2017 and 2018 led by Dr Briony Larance from the University of Wollongong found 68 per cent thought the treatment would suit them,mostly because they would not have to attend services so frequently,giving them more freedom.
Richmond’s injecting room opened in 2018 after a spate of heroin-related deaths and increasing heroin use. Anindependent review estimated the facility saved at least 21 lives in its first 18 months.
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Thelocation of the facility next to the Richmond West Primary School,on Lennox Street,has causedtensions with parts of the community who want it moved.
About 100 residents met in March to share concerns,and parents from the school council met acting Premier James Merlino and Health Minister Martin Foley last month.
The school has upgraded security,adding an electronic lock and video intercom on the front gates.
Support is available from Lifeline on 13 11 14,or the National Alcohol and Other Drug Hotline on 1800 250 015.