MAYBE SOMEDAY WE WILL SPEND AS MUCH ENERGY ON ADDICTS DOCTOR BELIEVES ARE A
MENACE

Editor, The Times:

I have wondered what could even trigger me to write a response to an
article. Dr. Rob Thompson has managed to do just that. In fact, the
reaction I felt to his article on opiate addiction was no less than a
disturbing experience ("An overdue prescription for drug addicts,"
commentary, July 7).

Thompson is a cardiologist who states in the more than 20 years of
practicing medicine, he has read dozens of articles on how to recognize an
addict. While I agree that the medical profession does not always offer an
answer to treating an addict (a physician has approximately 10 hours of
addiction training in medical school), I find it startling that an admitted
non-expert would be utilized for a professional opinion in this matter.

As a national- and state-certified alcohol/drug counselor with more than
16,000 hours of experience working to prevent, diagnose and treat the
disease of alcoholism/addiction, I would suggest that his tagline,
"drug-replacement therapy," is in itself the height of lunacy.

I am grateful that Thompson would refuse continuous prescriptions to an
addicted person, however, I am curious as to why he does not refer that
patient to treatment experts. Would he not want a family physician to refer
a patient with significant heart problems to his specialty of cardiology?

For every addict, it takes 50 mini-interventions before he is ready to
receive help. Who better than a physician to use their influence with their
patient? Methadone does not eliminate addiction. Don't those suffering from
this illness deserve at least a chance at being drug-free before we
automatically place them on another chemical?

Is he really suggesting that office-based physicians be allowed to
prescribe methadone to "street addicts and middle-class moms"?

When an addict is in recovery, he learns to cope with the stressors of
life, cravings and the wreckage that his addiction has created.

If he is automatically prescribed a replacement drug, wouldn't he still
have all those issues to deal with yet without the new coping skills
learned? I would endeavor to say this is when there are "thousands of
people who remain hopelessly trapped by their addiction." The insanity of
the disease continues, only now the addict is supposed to be just fine
because after all, he is on methadone and "able to function in society."

Research shows that one in 10 persons suffers from alcoholism/addiction.
How many death certificates cite the cause of death as heart failure,
stroke, liver disease and so on when in fact, substances were the major
contributing factor?

Families are torn apart, financial devastation occurs, violence abounds and
all of that without one illicit drug purchase.

Perhaps someday we citizens will spend just as much energy on those
addicts, whom it seems Thompson believes are a menace and a burden.

Lynn Mattson-Eul, Edmonds

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski