Pubdate: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 Source: Register-Herald, The (Beckley, WV) Copyright: 2003 The Register-Herald Contact: http://www.register-herald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1441 Author: Charles "Hoss" Kitts METH CLINICS: KNOW THE FACTS AND THE TRUTH In response to a recent letter from Nicole Massey ... You should know that her comments were only her opinion, and they are uninformed and misguided at best. She says, "Methadone clinics may benefit the very few, but in most cases it only causes a person to get off the previous drug they were on and become hooked on methadone itself." The truth is, a "very few" patients abuse methadone and the clinic system and give it the bad name and negative stigma. Still, that makes it hard on the large majority of us who are using it as the lifesaving medicine and treatment for our disease as it was intended. Secondly, she says, "To tell you the truth, there has been no real proof this method truly does work." Try telling this to the National Institute of Health, The New England Journal of Medicine, The JAMA. These and other professional medical organizations have, after years of study, stated that methadone maintenance is the only proven treatment for active opiate addiction and "should be made available to any and everyone seeking help for opiate addiction." (http://consensus.nih.gov/ cons/108/108_statement.htm) As co-director of the Virginia chapter of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates, I ask please, before making statements like "the fact is" and "to tell the truth," know the facts and the truth. Charles "Hoss" Kitts Co-director VA NAMA Bluefield, Va. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman