Pubdate: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 Source: Sunday Gazette-Mail (WV) Copyright: 2003, Sunday Gazette-Mail Contact: http://sundaygazettemail.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1404 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone) METHADONE Booming Industry WE'VE ALWAYS felt that America's war on drugs is mostly an exercise in futility, a replay of the historic fiasco that occurred when Prohibition sought to stamp out alcohol. Repeatedly, we have urged that drug-users be given treatment instead of being jailed as criminals. Therefore, we're pleased that West Virginia is acquiring methadone clinics where OxyContin and heroin addicts can obtain a legal synthetic opiate for only $12 a day. This blocks their craving for costly street drugs, and reduces their need to steal to support their habits. If enough addicts turn to legal methadone, the criminal rings supplying illegal narcotics may lose their customers and go out of business. Still, it's slightly disturbing to see methadone clinics spreading as a booming, for-profit, commercial, "growth industry" in West Virginia. We'd feel more comfortable if the methadone were provided by county health departments or nonprofit clinics - groups with no incentive to sell more methadone to earn more money. Reporter Tara Tuckwiller has documented how the for-profit clinics appeared abruptly in the Mountain State, with seven already in operation, two more to open this year, and five others awaiting approval by the state Health Care Authority. Many of the clinics are located near state borders, to draw customers from neighbor states. A clinic executive told Tuckwiller proudly that methadone sales have been "an overwhelming success. ... We experienced more of a response than we thought we'd get." We're glad when business booms - but it's vaguely troubling that these profits come from providing daily narcotic "fixes" to drug addicts. Tuckwiller noted in last Sunday's paper that some addicts are abusing methadone just as they abused OxyContin. In Mercer County, a woman addict is charged with giving her doctor-prescribed methadone to a friend - killing him with an overdose. It was Mercer's third methadone death in a year. Just across the border in Virginia, 44 people were killed by methadone in a single year. Maine reported more overdose deaths from methadone than any other drug. "God, this is worse than OxyContin ever dreamed of being," drug task force officer C.J. Smothers said. West Virginia's commercial clinics aren't regulated by the state. Tuckwiller found that most clinics send clients home with bottles of methadone on weekends, not knowing whether the highly addictive drug is used properly or peddled to friends. In some states with both state-run and commercial clinics, the for-profit shops offer bigger doses, to draw customers away from the governmental facilities. Ohio requires that all methadone clinics must be nonprofit or government-run. With no desire to sell more opiates to earn more profits, such clinics are more likely to help clients overcome addiction and be weaned off drugs. We think West Virginia legislators should study this troubling situation, and perhaps copy Ohio's policy. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom