Pubdate: Sat, 26 Feb 2005
Source: Roanoke Times (VA)
Copyright: 2005 Roanoke Times
Contact:  http://www.roanoke.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/368
Author: Michael Krawitz
Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n324/a10.html?13891
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Note: Read about author at end of article.

UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF METHADONE TREATMENT

Krawitz, of Elliston, is a disabled U.S. Air Force veteran and a
Virginia Tech undergraduate student of computer engineering on
extended medical leave.

"Issues of drug use have always been morally tinged by politics and
social conceptions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of
addiction, an area that touches our deepest fears about our ability to
manage ourselves, our children and our society."

- - Stanton Peele, adjunct professor of social work, New York University.

What do German scientists in 1937, Virginia legislators in 2005 and
Blacksburg and Roanoke all have in common? Answer: polamidon!

Polamidon is a substance that Max Bockmyhl and Gustav Ehrhart at
I.G. Farbenindustrie discovered while searching for an analgesic that
would be better in surgery and have a lower addiction potential than
heroin.

Polamidon is unrelated to opiates. It's withdrawal syndrome develops
more slowly and is less severe, but more prolonged than that
associated with heroin withdrawal.

In 1947, polamidon, now a spoil of war, was given to Eli Lilly, which
renamed it Dolophine, for the French word dolor (painful grief) and
fin (end). But you'll probably know it by its other name, methadone.

The Virginia legislature feels that methadone isn't regulated nearly
enough by the "soft on drugs" Drug Enforcement Administration, so
lawmakers had two bills sailing through the process to tighten the
noose around the necks of methadone clinics.

When I asked a legislative staffer if they were planning on tightening
regulations on other medical clinics, he said no, and said no one has
asked for such control. This seemed odd to me since medical clinics
dispense hundreds of drugs, including those most people in the
methadone program were previously addicted to, such as oxycodone.

Is methadone maintenance a legitimate medical treatment? According to
the National Institutes of Health, "Methadone maintenance is effective
in reducing illicit opiate drug use, in reducing crime, in enhancing
social productivity, and in reducing the spread of AIDS and hepatitis."

What about the drug enforcement community? According to the White
House office of National Drug Control Policy, "Methadone is very
effective in helping individuals addicted to opiates stabilize their
lives and reduce their illicit drug use."

But don't methadone clinics breed crime? Actually, no. Again, the NIH,
"Over the past two decades, clear and convincing evidence has been
collected from multiple studies showing that effective treatment of
opiate dependence markedly reduces the rates of criminal activity."

Methadone wasn't named after Hitler or created during World War II, as
Narconan international's Web site states. (They've assured me it will
be corrected; I'll let you know.)

I wasn't able to get the DEA's comment on its Web site (they also list
World War II). For the record, World War II started in 1939 with
Hitler's attack on Poland. The DEA spokeswoman told me that she didn't
have enough time to find experts to answer my questions before my
deadline. This from an administration with 10,000 agents, most of whom
are drug experts.

I haven't been able to find any needle exchanges in Virginia, let
alone in methadone clinics. Claims of open-door policies and drugs
dispensed without prescription at clinics are absurd, given new
patients must come daily to the clinic and take their medicine in
front of a treatment specialist.

Methadone clinics don't allow patients to take any medicine home for
at least three months, and then, they still have to come every other
day. If they don't follow the rules, they won't get that much freedom.

At the heart of this hoopla seems to be core differences over just
what addiction is. Some people, like those in Northwest Roanoke who
have spoken out against the CRC Health Systems clinic there, believe
that all use is abuse. Therefore, they see a clinic in their
neighborhood as an attack.

To be fair, more affluent neighborhoods easily shot down the proposal
CRC made, and the people of Northwest feel cheated and misrepresented.
Newly elected Roanoke City Councilman Sherman Lea says it wouldn't
have gotten this far if he had been in office when the clinic was
first proposed

Addiction Recovery systems has proposed a clinic in Blacksburg.

Of course, all use isn't abuse, and puritanical beliefs like that are
the roots of fear and hate. NIH says, "Opiate-dependent persons are
often perceived as 'other' or 'different.' Factors such as racism play
a large role here. Many people believe that dependence is self-induced
or a failure of willpower and those efforts to treat it will
inevitably fail. Vigorous and effective leadership is needed to inform
the public that dependence is a medical disorder that can be
effectively treated."

If the concept of "all use that doesn't lead to a cure is abuse" were
to be followed to its logical end, diabetes patients would be denied
insulin.

It's against federal law (Americans with Disabilities Act) to
discriminate based upon someone's medical condition. And if the
legislature continues to attack methadone clinics, it may write a
check we Virginia citizens won't want to cover.

Note: Michael Krawitz is a director of
Virginians Against Drug Violence www.drugsense.org/dpfva
Advisor to Patients Out of Time www.medicalcannabis.com
Regional Director for The November Coalition www.november.org
Founder of The Cannabis Museum www.cannabismuseum.com
Advisor to NORML at VPI&SU http://www.norml.org.vt.edu/
Listmaster, DRCNet  &  International Cannabis activist and
Regular Columnist for the Collegiate Times.
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MAP posted-by: Derek