A LOOK AT THE ROLE OF METHADONE CLINICS

It would be unfortunate if a therapy program for a particular human
disease is singled out as a threat to the community.

Lepers rang bells giving people a chance to scatter for fear of
contracting leprosy. AIDS victims were barred from restaurants.
People were afraid to shake their hands. Pregnant teens left town to
have the baby and give it up.

Enlightened societies acknowledge the ignorance that influenced the
decisions of the day regarding leprosy and AIDS and pregnancy out of wedlock.

Scientific communities recognize addiction as a life-long disease.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse stated that "People mistakenly
view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social problem and may
characterize those who take drugs as morally weak.

"Stopping drug abuse is not simply a matter of will power."

When decisions at the legislative level are influenced by moral panic
science becomes irrelevant.

Addiction involves chemical derangement of brain tissue like diabetes
is associated with chemical derangement of the pancreas. Addiction is
chronic and relapsing. It leads to compulsive drug seeking.

Our society accepts diseases like heart failure and diabetes as
socially tolerable. Syphilis, herpes, addiction and depression are stifled.

Common co-morbidities with drug addiction are mood diseases like
depression and bipolar disease. Winston Churchill suffered from
depression and was addicted to alcohol. Margaret Trudeau battled
bipolar disease and marijuana abuse. The following have been in
treatment for drug addiction/abuse: Betty Ford, Robert Kennedy Jr.,
John Daly, Lindsay Lohan, Ted Kennedy, Chevy Chase, Johnny Cash and
Mary Tyler Moore. Google "famous people and addictions" for a long
list. Would you bar these people from your community?

A survey done by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 2007
showed within the Erie St. Clair region, 29 per cent of teens in
grades 7 to 12 are involved in opioid drug abuse. The average for the
rest of Ontario is 22 per cent.

The majority in treatment are victims from the middle class --
physicians, lawyers, teachers, businessmen and trades people. Look
closely into your family and you will find such victims.

It is a misconception that a drug addict is a derelict who lives on
the streets. There are approximately 800 addicts in treatment
(methadone) in Windsor; many more are not.

An active opioid user represents an annual loss to society of $45,000
due to his health needs, criminal activities, welfare benefits and
loss of taxation revenues.

Addiction is associated with theft, robbery, violence, weapons
acquisition, trafficking and smuggling. We have to fear those who are
not in treatment -- not those who are in a controlled therapeutic program.

Gearing and Schweitzer in 1974 studied 17,550 methadone patients, and
showed that 36 per cent were socially productive before methadone
therapy. After two years of therapy, the number of socially
productive addicts rose to 76 per cent. This study also revealed that
the arrest rate per 100 person years dropped from 201 to 1.2.

Opioids cause victims to withdraw from society; they get into legal
trouble; incarceration is common; they have no insight into cheating
their loved ones out of money for buying opioids. It's difficult to
reason with an addict.

Methadone is also an opioid. Why then is it used as a therapeutic
tool? Aren't the addicts now switching one opioid for another? Isn't
their addiction being fed by another opioid, methadone?

The answer:

. Methadone is an opioid that allows an addict to think clearly.

. Once the addict becomes stabilized on methadone, he becomes more
interested in family, cessation of illegal activities, education,
jobs, self-improvement, socializing with non-users, and reclaiming
his or her sense of responsibility.

. As an opioid addict, he or she will be using some form of opioid no
matter what. If stabilized on methadone, it allows them person to
rejoin society, become productive, family-oriented and law-abiding.

. There is close supervision by trained doctors and pharmacists so
there is a lesser chance of dying from illegal drugs.

There is approximately one death every day in Ontario from opioid
abuse. If we single out methadone clinics as undesirable in a
particular neighbourhood then we will be shooting ourselves in the foot.

Who will be treating the 29 per cent of opioid abusing kids from
grades 7-12? If clinics are relegated to out of the way locations,
will patients have the motivation to seek treatment? What will the
addicts in your neighbourhood, in your family, do for proper
diagnosis and treatment?