WHY PUT A TIME LIMIT ON LIFE-SAVING DRUG TREATMENT FOR HEROIN
ADDICTS?

The only call for a "quick fix" in your report, "Call to cut the
methadone quick fix" (26 May), comes from Professor Neil McKeganey,
who would set a time limit on how long patients may be permitted to
receive a medication that for many has been, literally, a life-saver.

Whoever heard of a time limit on any medication, for any illness?
Imagine telling diabetics to get their act together - stick to a diet,
exercise, etc - but whatever happens, they'll be cut off from insulin
after two years. Or refusing to continue cholesterol-lowering
medication after a specified period on the assumption that patients
must be expected to learn and follow optimal dietary guidelines. Or
telling alcoholics - even those who have responded extremely well and
managed to maintain sobriety - that two years of Antabuse (or AA
meetings) is all they'll get.

Addiction is a chronic medical condition. This was the gist of the
Rolleston Committee report 82 years ago, and has been reaffirmed
repeatedly ever since, including by such authoritative bodies as the
World Health Organisation. Surely Prof McKeganey could not be so
blinded by wishful thinking that he fails to realise his proposal
would result in virtually all of the "terminated" patients returning
to the streets, to heroin, to crime, to getting - and spreading - HIV
and other potentially lethal illnesses. One can only pray that the
ministers will show more compassion, common sense and understanding
than the professor. At stake are the lives of countless individuals
and the wellbeing of the entire community.

(DR) Robert Newman, MD

New York City, New York