ADDICTS DESERVE TREATMENT, TOO

Junkies, addicts, druggies. There are so many pejorative terms out
there for someone who just needs help. I can't imagine that someone
who, for whatever reason, decided just to try a drug or drink, wanted
to end up sick, impoverished or on the street.

No one wants to end up there, but what if someone has never known
anything better?

Staff working in the methadone assisted recovery program in Prince
Albert state that 99.9 per cent of drug users who have accessed that
program have been abused in some form.

In Canada, male drug users usually outnumber female drug users two to
one. However in Prince Albert 56 per cent of the clients accessing
treatment through the methadone program are women. Of those, more
than 50 per cent have at some point prostituted themselves to pay
for their habit.

Case co-ordinators tell stories of women who come into their offices
who admit to turning tricks - they are upset, embarrassed, frustrated
they can't stop using and never thought they would ever turn to
prostitution.

The staff in the methadone clinic tell horror stories of starving
children who began stealing food at five or six years old, who lived
in an atmosphere of squalor and abuse.

It's little wonder these people turn to drugs: they were never taught
how to deal with life and never told that they are important.

It's worth noting that a majority of the opiates used in Prince
Albert are legal pharmaceutical drugs.

A doctor prescribes morphine or Dilaudid to a patient in pain and
that patient turns around and sells it (or some of it). It is a
lucrative industry; a lot of money can be made from selling
medication: some users will spend hundreds of dollars a week on their
habit.

It's hard to fathom - how can a doctor prescribe a medication that
might be cooked and used to get high? But also, how could they not?

Ponder someone recovering from a car accident in need of pain
medication. How can a doctor really know how much pain they are in?

How can a doctor guess who might sell their medication and who
wouldn't?

Sometimes doctors are alerted and files flagged, but the calls don't
happen often enough or else there wouldn't be the wait list to get
into the methadone program. Anyone who hears about someone selling
their medications should alert the local police.

It's frustrating to hear stories of people who want to come off
drugs, but have failed to detox and thus choose to use methadone to
avoid returning to drug use. Despite this reasonable choice, people
still judge them.

If a former addict can use methadone to avoid wanting to get high,
thus allowing them to obtain a job and raise a family, why should
they still be looked down on?

It seems some of these people will never be viewed as
worthwhile.

I realize methadone isn't the only answer, but for people with no
other options it strikes me as a good choice.

I realize some people die while in the methadone program - and yes
they can die if they are weaned off the substance. But many more will
die of a drug overdose or violence related to the drug trade.

We wouldn't want treatment withheld from an alcoholic with liver
failure or a former smoker with lung cancer so why would help be
withheld from someone who wanted to stop using drugs?

Yes, in some ways methadone is simply replacing another opiate, and
yes, the drug user might never be totally "clean." But, if they can
become a functioning member of society, they will buy their own methadone.

They deserve a break.