METHADONE BILL

Dear Senators William Wampler and Brandon Bell:

Well, you did it. Your knee-jerk reaction to the horror stories concerning
methadone clinics and the rush-it-through actions of your colleagues will
limit, and in some cases deny, the only proven and accepted medical
treatment for opiate addiction to many who need it.

Do you even care that your quick-fix mentality goes against the National
Institutes of Health, the President's Office of National Drug Control
Policy and years of study from learned and well respected people in the
medical field who have dedicated their lives to finding good, sound, safe
treatment for this disease that afflicts so many of your constituents?

I hope you sleep well tonight, because there are thousands who will not
because they are denied the treatment they deserve. It has been legislated
out of their communities by people, like yourself, who have no business
making life or death medical decisions to appease the mob mentality of your
upper middle class constituents who are worried about their precious
property values. Sleep well Senators.

Charles "Hoss" Kitts, Jr.

Codirector, Virginia Chapter National Alliance of Methadone Advocates