OUNCE OF PREVENTION

Being 41 and a lifelong resident of Washington County, I have witnessed
with despair the growing horror of opiate addiction in Maine. I have
watched as friends from all walks of life have succumbed to this deadly
evil. I have seen how people have progressed from Percocet to OxyContin, to
Dilaudid and other opiate substances in their ever-growing quest for the
warm cuddly feeling.

I have seen how loved ones can go from using Percocet to being daily users
of the methadone clinic in Portland. I have noted that opiate addiction
seems to start with recreational prescription drug use. Then when the
script runs out addicts run to Bangor and cities south to fill their need
with illegal heroin.

Two friends of mine attend the methadone clinic in Portland. One has used
the clinic as often as the rules would allow for two years. The other has
recently moved to Portland and now attends the clinic as much as allowed.
Both supplement their need for opiates (after clinic hours) with whatever
they can procure from the street. They use everything from acetaminophen
with codeine to heroin.

I am told by my friends who attend the Portland clinic that they cannot use
methadone as they would heroin or scripts - they say methadone cannot be
shot up because it turns to a gel when hit with water. It cannot be snorted
because it burns the mucus membranes.

If many opiate addictions start with improper prescription drug use, why is
it that prescription drugs don't have preventatives in them as methadone
does? If the drug manufacturing companies made prescription drugs
un-snortable or unshootable then a large segment of society would not
develop an addiction in the first place. And seeing methadone is not a
cure, is not prevention the way to go?

J. Noble Snowdeal, Jonesboro