METHADONE FOR HARM REDUCTION

I am a recovering addict with four months clean. I'd like to say thank
God there finally may be something done. Mostly I'm in agreement with
the proposed changes. But I am very much against the idea of giving
heroin to users in Vancouver's Eastside (50% oppose prescribing heroin
to addicts, Dec. 27).

I speak from experience. If I had been given heroin, with no cost or
consequences, on a regular basis, I would be dead.

One of the problems with heroin addiction is that, once hooked,
addicts need it every four to eight hours to prevent them from
becoming violently ill. The amount of the drug, and the space of time
between fixes, varies with each addict.

There are only two ways to get off heroin. One is cold turkey, which
is so painful that often death seems a welcome alternative.

The second is methadone. Taken only once a day, it stops the craving
for heroin. However, because heroin addicts spend most of their time
finding ways to get high, methadone users are at a loss to occupy
their time. They need supervision from a physician -- methadone can be
abused just like heroin -- and they need somewhere to go. There are
only two recovery houses for women that allow methadone.

If our community really wants to help addicts, it would invest in long
term treatment facilities. It would ensure that doctors in the field
are willing to work with addicts. Together they can develop a plan to
get them off drugs and develop some life skills.

Free heroin is not the answer. It might lower the rate of property
crimes committed by addicts. But if we are honest with ourselves,
lowering property crime benefits us, not the addicts.

Elan Dreaver, Step by Step Recovery House, Surrey