AN ADDICT AGAINST METHADONE

By Barbara Del Pizzo, a writer who lives with her husband and daughter in
Nyack, N.Y.

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani stirred a furor recently when he called for
the abolition of methadone treatment for heroin addicts in the city--a
position that put him at odds with the Clinton administration's drug czar,
Gen. Barry McCaffrey. As a recovering addict, I can say that Mr. Giuliani
is right: Promising addicts free methadone for life is not doing them a favor.

I am in my 15th year of recovery, following a 26-year habit. Since 1984 I
have not used heroin, methadone, codeine, speed, marijuana, cocaine,
barbiturates, hypnotics, psychedelics or alcohol.

Like all addicts, I could never get enough: Some days I took half a dozen
drugs in combination, seeking the perfect balance between stimulation and
relaxation. I ingested them by any means available-- drinks, pills, pipes,
powders or needles. When I managed to go to work (a series of short-term
jobs), I imagined myself a competent employee. I thought no one knew I was
high and shooting up in the bathroom. Later I was to learn that my flaky
behavior did not go unnoticed.

Over time, I experienced a gradual increase in tolerance and required
progressively larger doses to maintain a basic level of comfort. A shot of
heroin or a bottle of methadone keeps withdrawal symptoms at bay for 24
hours--they're interchangeable. But addicts want more than just to feel
normal. They want to get high.

So after drinking my free dose at the methadone clinic, I would buy extra
bottles from the junkies who hung around outside and sold their take-home
doses. (These junkies also sold the free needles the clinic gave them in
order to buy more drugs; so much for that nostrum.) I squirreled the doses
away for later use as a cushion from the brutal, inevitable depression that
loomed fatally and irrevocably when the high from other drugs finally ran out.

And other drugs there were. If I missed methadone clinic hours for the day,
I could always substitute heroin or any of the synthetic opiates. The
longer I stayed on the methadone program, the bigger my habit became.
Indeed, methadone use made recovery more difficult, as it provided a
consistent base upon which to build my tolerance, something low-quality
street drugs didn't always do. Methadone also made my regular drug habit
more expensive, as my increased tolerance meant I needed an unusually large
fix on the days I missed going to the clinic.

The idea that we want active junkies to be "functioning" members of society
is not only bizarre but dangerous. Junkies are by definition
self-destructive. Would you want an addict driving the bus your children
take to school, or performing heart surgery on your father?

Luckily, most junkies are too preoccupied to bother with jobs. Many receive
the city or county welfare package, which includes subsidized housing,
Medicaid and food stamps, or federal welfare known as Supplemental Security
Income, which actually pays addicts in cash for their "disability." But
should responsible, hard-working taxpayers pay for the drugs, entertainment
and living expenses of people who do nothing but get high all day? Reliable
junkies with full-time jobs, paying for their own methadone, are few and
far between. Most of the ones I know spend their days robbing, stealing,
dealing, prostituting themselves, conning relatives and abandoning their kids.

When the procurement of the drug becomes too difficult, and the high is no
longer worth the effort, junkies get sober--unless they manage to find an
enabler who will help them procure and pay for their drugs. The
hand-wringing lament that "we have no choice, we simply have to supply
addicts with drugs to appease them, to keep them from going on a rampage,
threatening our neighborhoods, stealing, looting, raping, killing" is
absurd. By supplying addicts with drugs or money for drugs, we are not
helping them get better. We are abetting their self-destruction.

Weaning addicts off methadone as quickly as possible is the most effective
way to correct their dysfunctional lives. They can't be helped so long as
they are looking ahead to their next high. Better to let them experience
the consequences of their lifestyle so they can hit bottom, surrender and
get help

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski