NAOMI Project Proving Effective with No Increased Threat to Surrounding Communities

The NAOMI project, also known as the North American Opiate Medication Initiative, was launched in 2005. It was established as a result of research that found the injection of pharmaceutical heroin is more efficient than simple methadone treatments for certain drug addicts that do not respond well to traditional treatment.

Science Daily recently reported on a study that found that providing these addicts with heroin did not pose a risk to surrounding neighborhoods. This study was conducted by Serge Brochu, a researcher at the Université de Montréal School of Criminology. The Montreal leg of the NAOMI project was found to not have a negative impact on its surrounding community.

To complete this study, Brochu interviewed close to 40 students, business owners, police officers, security guards, social workers, kindergarten employees and homeless people. The data collected during this time showed that the quantity of drug injecting debris – including syringes, needle covers, stericups, spoons, etc. – decreased significantly.

In addition, the NAOMI clinic had no impact on the quantity of various street debris, on deviant behavior or on observable police and ambulance interventions in the heart of the experimental sector.

The results of the NAOMI project have proven to be very positive over the last 12 months. Those patients within the program increased 88 percent and participants reduced their consumption of illicit drugs by 70 percent. These participants also reduced their criminal activity by 36 percent, while improving their health by 20 percent.

“Steps have been taken with the Quebec Ministry of Health so this type of program can be offered to heroin addicts that don’t respond to traditional treatments,” said Dr. Suzanne Brissette, in the Science Daily

Dr. Brissette is the head of the drug addiction rehabilitation program of the Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal and a professor at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Medicine. “These new results obtained by Professor Brochu are keeping us hopeful.”

“Studies conducted on the NAOMI project as well as my own study on the criminal impact of the project highlight its validity: the health of drug addicts is improved with no negative impact on the urban area. That said, why not continue helping these marginalized people combat their dependency problem, or at the very least, help them improve their physical health?” said Professor Brochu.