Methadone Today
Volume IV, Issue IV (April 1999)
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Excerpt from Methadone List
ARM - Getting Started, Planning for the Future
- Malcolm Dickson
The Stigma Continues - Name Withheld by Request
Public Health Emergency - Ignored Despite Record
Drug Deaths in County, State, Country - Floyd Landrath
Letters to the Editor
Doctor's Column - Methadone,
Weight Gain & Reduced Sex Drive
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Letters to the Editor
Dear Methadone Today,
My husband has been on methadone for about 2 1/2 years now.
Finally, we have reached normalcy in our lives. Because our home
state (Ohio) does not recognize the importance of methadone maintainence,
he must travel to Michigan to Project Life (Parkview) for his methadone.
Because he works 7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., he must get up at four
o'clock in the morning in order to be first at the clinic (5:30 a.m.).
He has been doing this faithfully all these years and hasn't had one setback.
I really appreciate the efforts your state has put into this situation.
I've stuck by my husband for over 20 years. I have
watched him slide from one dependency to another and endured hardships
when he went to prison after committing crimes to support his habit.
I did this because I knew that somewhere, somehow, someone would find a
solution to his problems. And he did just that.
Methadone was indeed our lifesaver. I have no doubt
that without methadone, my husband would be dead today. Instead,
we are living a good life; he's holding down a job he enjoys, and we are
finally able to live the life I knew we could--the life I knew deep down
my husband was capable of living. I can't tell you how much
this means to me--to finally have the man I knew existed inside of him.
I'm glad I stuck it out because it was truly worth it. Thank you
all very much.
========================
Dear Methadone Today,
The general public is somewhat misinformed and grossly misled
in understanding how the medication "methadone" works in helping the suffering
people addicted to heroin and other opiates. Methadone is by far
the most sucsessful form of treatment available to date.
Speaking personaly, methadone not only helped in saving my life,
it has given me the strength to say no to drugs, something I was
never able to do before taking methadone. I had tried AA/NA; I had
been to over 80 detoxes, always with the best intentions of never using
drugs again.
I truly wanted to stop. Even after having a heart attack
and nearly dying, I kept finding myself making the same mistakes and expecting
diferent results. Finally, a doctor told me that he had a lot of
success with paitents who were taking methadone and recomended me to a
local clinic.
Well, it has been over three years now. I not only have
my life back, but I`m doing something with it. This spring I will
be attending college. I would like to councel teens who are heading
down the wrong road in life.
Perhaps sharing my own experience, strength, and hope will help
prevent someone from going through a life of pain and suffering, but rather
help them to get on the road to contentment, love, and joy.
Ron M.
===========================================
Dear Beth,
Just wanted to say thanks, as I just received my March issue of
Methadone Today!
Ironically, there is an article, "My Life On Methadone," that
was very enlightening, as I am yet to be pro or con methadone maintenance.
I'm leaning greatly toward the first, and this article reinforced that.
I, not unlike the author, have fought addiction for many years (25) through
12-step programs, residential programs, counseling, etc., with the same
results--I always go back to using!
Still, I don't want to lay down my guns and die, I do feel angst--especially
with my upcoming parole. I feel--hey, if I can live a productive
life, contribute to society, not be a threat to the public, and feel "normal"
while on a methadone maintenance program, why not?!
But there is the parole office! I'm afraid they're
still in the dark and may go as far as to return me to prison because I
don't want to use heroin any longer! So, I'll have to go out in the
free world and live in fear--of using an opiate to feel normal or using
a prescribed medication (methadone) to treat my disease of addiction and
being punished either way!
Consequently, I praise the new advocacy group: Advocates
for Recovery through Medicine (ARM). Finally, maybe those who look
at methadone as an "easy way out" for opiate addicts, will understand that
this may be our only hope for normalcy in all aspects of our lives.
I find it reprehensible that even though methadone is accepted
by and endorsed by organizations held in high esteem, such as National
Institutes of Health, American Psychiatric Association, American Medical
Association, etc., it and its users are stigmatized as dope fiends, junkies,
losers!
Hopefully this new group, ARM, will let those who are misinformed
about this treatment know that it will let us, who are afflicted with the
disease of addiction, seek relief and a way to catch our dreams before
they slip away!
Beth, if I can somehow help now or upon my release, please do
not hesitate in asking! Thanks again! I've enclosed a few stamps
to help in mailing. I will send more when I'm able. - Allan
Editor's Note: For anyone having trouble with a
parole or probation officer "allowing" them to enroll in a methadone program,
Methadone Today has a letter that you can use to give your officer.
Write us at PO Box 164, Davison, MI 48423-0164, visit the Methadone Today
web site or write to us at yourtype@tir.com
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Public Health Emergency - Ignored
Despite Record Drug Deaths in County, State, Country
by Floyd Ferris Landrath
Both Multnomah County Health Dept. and the Oregon Health Division are
paralyzed by fear of controversy over last year's record 235 drug-related
deaths in Oregon. So, what makes these health officials freeze like
deer in a beam of headlights? At one level, it's a legal and philosophical
conflict between cops and doctors, jailers and healers, government and
community. In other words, politics. At another level it's
ignorance and rigid attitudes even within the public health itself.
"How can you save someone bent on killing them self," stated one callous
health official.
But each year as the number of drug related deaths continues to
soar, it becomes painfully obvious that this problem is killing many who
had no intention of committing suicide. You can bet if someone was
dying every 1.5 days from tainted beer or aspirin, immediate action by
the government would be taken to recall the product and stop its
distribution. The press and media would run constant warnings.
Yet, not so with drugs like heroin or cocaine. You see, these are
"controlled" substances, and the government has prohibited them.
And the emperor is naked, but no one who wants to keep their job dares
mention or question it.
Even with the social disapproval and stigma attached to illegal
drug use, only an extremist would support a death penalty for that alone.
Yet in effect, that's exactly what is taking place. Sometimes it's
too easy to forget those "druggies" or "junkies" were people, often very
nice people who worked and paid their bills like anyone else. They
had lives, families and friends. They had a right to be as well protected
from bad aspirin as well as bad dope.
Consider this a wake-up call, especially if you are a parent of
a teenager. It does not look good for the future. There's a glut
of heroin (and all those other "controlled" substances) on the streets
and even playgrounds these days. "Drug counselors warn that the toll
likely will stay high because the addictive drug is cheap, potent and widely
available," according to a Feb. 10 report from the Associated Press.
Reports from the Oregon Medical Examiner's Office give grim credence
to that dire warning. For every year since 1988, with the exception
of 1991, drug related deaths in Oregon have seen a steady increase.
They went from 67 dead in 1988, to 235 in 1998 a nearly 200 percent increase.
Of those 235, 117 people died here in Multnomah County (that's down a little
from 121 in 1997 and 118 in 1996). Statewide heroin-related deaths
went from 37 in 1988 to 179 in 1998, a nearly 500 percent increase.
In Multnomah County, it jumped from 33 dead in 1989 to 102 last year, a
300 percent rise.
While the Oregon Medical Examiner does not keep tabs on things
like age, sex, race, etc., Dr. Ernest Drucker (1) does. He's a professor
of epidemiology at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of
Medicine who reports on drug-related research in the January-February issue
of the journal Public Health Reports, the official journal of the U.S.
Public Health Service.
Even though the federal government reports drug use has been in
decline since 1979, Drucker reports that between 1978 and 1994, drug-related
emergency room visits have gone up 60 percent (from 323,000 annually to
518,500), and overdose deaths increased by 400 percent (2500 to 10,000).
Drucker also draws a direct correlation between increased heroin-related
fatalities to a dramatic rise in purity (from 6.7 percent in 1981 to 41.5
percent in 1996) and notes as contributing factors both a sharp decline
in price and abundant supply.
Inner-city minorities and the poor suffer most of the drug- and
drug-law related harm. Consider this: whites, blacks and Hispanics
all use drugs at about the same rate, yet blacks are 3.5 times more likely
to die from overdose and have 7.5 times more drug-related emergency room
visits than their white counterparts. Blacks are also four times
more likely than whites to be arrested and 20 times more likely to be incarcerated
for drugs. On average Hispanics fair little better than African-Americans.
One additional finding Dr. Drucker reports: Annual state and federal drug
enforcement expenses are estimated at more than $40 billion, compared with
less than $8 billion for all treatment, research, and prevention in the
U.S. from all government and private sources.
Dr. Drucker concludes, "From a public health point of view, drug
prohibition is a disaster. While our government officials claim success
in reducing drug use, drug-related deaths and diseases have increased sharply.
That's the best measure of the impact of our drug policies - and they are
failing."
What should we do? As for heroin, let's ask Dr. Doug Bovee,
medical director of the CODA Addiction Treatment Services clinic in Eugene,
Oregon, "Addicts go through agonizing withdrawal symptoms when they quit,
including cold sweats, nausea, muscle spasms and bone and joint aches.
If they use heroin, within seconds it's gone," Bovee said. "It's so easy
to relieve it with heroin."
Rational people know there are more humane, intelligent and cost-effective
ways to control access and reduce drug harm without resorting to such an
expensive and socially damaging policy as this insane war on (some) drugs
and so many people. There is much more we could do to reduce drug-related
harm and death, especially from heroin overdose. That's why we must
be reasonable and dispatch sacred political cows like this so-called War
on Drugs that has ravaged the Constitutional landscape and fouled the social
waters for far too long now.
It's time for government to stop waging war upon its own citizens.
It's time for "Drug Peace!"
(1) Dr. Drucker's article: <www.of-course.com/drugrealities>
"If drug abuse is a disease, then drug war is a crime."
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The Stigma Continues
Name Withheld by Request
I was a fire captain and paramedic for Fire Rescue until
I fell seventeen feet at a fire one night, ending my career with fire rescue
and instructing police officers at the community college. The accident
started my career in opiates and after three rehabs, two pain clinics,
and one orthopedic rehab (six months), methadone seemed to be the only
answer.
However I've been labeled by my former coworkers (who were like
a family). They consider me to be a "junkie" because I'm on methadone.
I'm not invited to retirement barbecues, station parties, etc. anymore
due to the stigma; although in 1989, I was voted the third most-respected
captain out of fifty.
I recently received my first issue of Methadone Today and enjoyed
it very much. We need more advocacy groups to assist us in educating
the public and the medical community. My wife and I are both on a
methadone program and are very pleased with the results of the medication.
However, my clinic seems to go beyond state and federal rules on almost
every issue. Everyone seems to be treated as less-than-acceptable
members of society.
My wife was refused takehomes due to "not having a job."
We were told that this was State law. She quit work long before her
opiate addiction, which started after a terrible car accident, to be a
stay at home mom. She gave up $45,000 a year to be at home with our
two daughters. My income exceeds $70,000 a year and is more than
sufficient.
Well, I contacted the State and got copies of the law. Guess
what? My income was sufficient for the State to allow my wife to
get takehomes. Even though her urines were clean for a year, she
had to work her way to the top month by month.
If my family doctor would prescribe it (I am a chronic pain patient
and opiate addict), I could claim it on my insurance, as could my wife,
thus paying $5.00 co-payments per month versus $600.00. We also want
to move to where it is a two-hour drive to the nearest clinic. It
is such a contradiction when doctors have advised that I have a morphine
pump implanted but won't prescribe methadone even though it is permissible
in this state now. The problem I have encountered is a reluctance
on the part of physicians to administer methadone due to the stigma attached
to it.
I suggest all patients get copies of State and Federal laws and
question their clinics on issues such as ours. I also received excellent
information from my Senator's office with regard to any family physician
being allowed to use methadone now for either pain or opiate maintenance.
END
Both State (each state listed separately) and Federal Regulations
can be found online at: http://www.tir.com/~yourtype
Or, federal regulations can be found in TAP 12, "Approval and
Monitoring of Narcotic Treatment Programs" Call for your free TAP 12:
(800) SAY NOTO
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ARM--Getting Started Planning for the Future
by Malcolm Dickson
The methadone advocacy group, Advocates for Recovery through Medicine
(ARM), is moving forward after a recent meeting of the Board of Directors
in Detroit, Michigan. Since it was also the first time the founders
of the group have ever met each other in person, it was an auspicious occasion
indeed. It is also a sign that ARM will soon be active in furthering the
education of those in positions to make changes through focused efforts
where education is desperately needed.
ARM is planning to operate as a methadone advocacy organization
as opposed to a patient advocacy organization. NAMA has always been, and
will continue to be, the pre-eminent patient advocacy organization, and
ARM plans to be a cooperative entity designed to hasten the goals
on which NAMA has been working so diligently for years.
It is obvious that many, many people across the country need to
be educated as to the facts about methadone, and ARM hopes to become an
integral part in the educating of America. With a cooperative effort,
there will undoubtedly be more attention focused on our plight. That attention
from the public and the mainstream medical community is our chance to educate
them both and end the ignorance and fear that surrounds methadone treatment.
ARM is proud of the fact that it was started strictly over the
Internet. Even though some of the original people involved in getting
things started lost interest over time, a core group believed so much in
what we were doing that we overcame the obvious obstacle of being geographically
separated by thousands of miles and persevered. It proves just how
dedicated ARM is to seeing methadone maintenance become a routine medical
treatment instead of an anomaly so abhorrent it must be practiced in a
separate building under totally separate rules and regulations!
The meeting in Detroit, held March 12-14, was a very successful
session. Since ARM's plan is to take its effort nationwide, some
very intricate planning will be involved. It was agreed upon that
a national effort, with media participation, coupled with a local effort
in every possible town and city, would be an effective way to educate the
greatest number of people possible. While such a plan is obviously
very ambitious, ARM believes that enough people already exist who are aware
of the facts and are willing to share those facts with their friends and
neighbors.
ARM feels that one way to educate the masses is to put a face
on methadone. If the Special Education Teacher in Illinois, the Medical
Doctor in Pennsylvania, the College Professor in Michigan, and the PTA
President in Florida would all come forward and talk about how methadone
saved their lives, the public's opinion would change a great deal.
In other words, it is up to us--the patients and the family and
friends of methadone patients. Those of us who are living a stable
life, working and supporting a family, integrated in our community, tasked
with responsibility that we live up to all because we found methadone at
a desperate time in our lives--it is up to us to come forward and tell
people. Stop hiding that part of our lives and step up and admit
that methadone helped us become stable citizens. This will make it
much easier on the next person to admit. Think of how many people
didn't get help because methadone maintenance is so burdened with regulations
that are needless and oppressive. You can change that fact.
Join ARM and help us make methadone normal medicine.
Even if you are not able to "go public," there will be other focused
efforts to educate groups of people. We still need members who can
help us with daily tasks, planning, organizing, etc.
If you would like to help, please notify ARM at arm-org@home.com
or call (615) 354-1320. We need you if you have two hours a week
or sixty hours a week to donate. The main qualification is reliability.
If you are reliable and do what you say you will do, we need you.
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Excerpt from Methadone List
Following is an excerpt from the methadone list online (instructions on
how to sign up): http://www.tir.com/~yourtype/methlist.htm
I learned many years ago that counselors at MMT clinics are not
there to help in most cases. I was going through a serious depression in
my life and confided in my counselor. The next thing I knew, I had
to come in every single day until "they" felt I was not depressed any longer.
I was punished for being depressed and for confiding in a counselor, and
I will never trust one again. I cannot afford to go to my clinic
daily; there are no other clinics close, and if there were, I would be
on it.
As far as a private counselor, I would not trust one of those
either because of the type of job I have. They do things that they
"think" will help us, but usually it only hurts us. I realize
that a patient has the right to file grievances, etc., but in my case,
I cannot afford to go through anything like that. If, for some reason,
I told my counselor something, and he/she thought I should come in more
often than I do, I could lose my job over it. I could not get there
and back to be to work each day, and I could not afford to drive that distance
daily or even three times a week. I had to learn this the hard way
and will never trust again.
As far as any counselor goes, I depict my life as perfect, and
all is well. I am never depressed, and I do not have any problems.
I have done it this way for years now, and it works great.
I have learned to deal with my problems in other ways. This has
not hurt my recovery at all. Actually, when I was honest with my
counselors in the past, that is what hurt my recovery. Anyway, I
just wanted you to know why I felt this way. The list has been really good
for me I can tell you that. I have met some great people here that
I CAN talk to without the fear of being hurt in any way. Thanks for listening
to this.
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