GIULIANI PLAN TO CLOSE METHADONE CLINICS MAKES SENSE ONLY TO HIM

New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani evidently listens to no one but himself.
Not for him the accumulated wisdom of physicians, scientists and drug
counselors who know the proven value of methadone in treating heroin addicts.

Giuliani's reckless plan to stop methadone treatments in New York would
have clear results, nearly all of them negative. The vast majority of
methadone patients would relapse, seeking and getting heroin instead.

That means they would be on the streets, panhandling or committing crimes _
or finding a way to get on welfare. They'd be full-blown heroin addicts
again, only this time probably with more drastic outcomes because the drug
has become stronger and more deadly in recent years.

Heedless of the opinons of others, especially those who have spent
stressful years helping addicts fight against drug addiction, Giuliani
ordered city-run hospitals to wean their 2,000 methadone patients from the
substance within a few months. He also wants 30,000 private patients to
quit methadone.

What can Giuliani be thinking? Is he so headstrong that no one can reach
him with anything resembling common sense?

Barry McCaffrey, the president's chief drug policy adviser, is rightly
outraged at Giuliani's strange plan. As McCaffrey said, the problem isn't
too many methadone programs; in reality, there are too few.

Across the nation, some 115,000 addicts are taking methadone to break their
addiction to heroin. For three decades or so, methadone has been used to
blunt the craving for heroin and to make it easier to kick the habit.

Methadone is a liquid narcotic, which Giuliani claims ''enslaves'' patients
who receive it. In the real world _ outside the New York mayor's office _
of course methadone isn't considered a panacea, but when given under
closely regulated conditions, it has helped many heroin addicts break free
and become self-reliant and productive citizens.

Not every heroin addict becomes clean through methadone treatments, but
experience shows it does much more good than harm. If Giuliani can somehow
summon up whatever remnant of common sense remains in his head, he ought to
call off his destructive plan.

Copyright 1998 Sun-Sentinel Company

Checked-by: Richard Lake