METH CLINICS: KNOW THE FACTS AND THE TRUTH

In response to a recent letter from Nicole Massey ... You should know that
her comments were only her opinion, and they are uninformed and misguided
at best.

She says, "Methadone clinics may benefit the very few, but in most cases it
only causes a person to get off the previous drug they were on and become
hooked on methadone itself."

The truth is, a "very few" patients abuse methadone and the clinic system
and give it the bad name and negative stigma. Still, that makes it hard on
the large majority of us who are using it as the lifesaving medicine and
treatment for our disease as it was intended.

Secondly, she says, "To tell you the truth, there has been no real proof
this method truly does work."

Try telling this to the National Institute of Health, The New England
Journal of Medicine, The JAMA. These and other professional medical
organizations have, after years of study, stated that methadone maintenance
is the only proven treatment for active opiate addiction and "should be
made available to any and everyone seeking help for opiate addiction."
(http://consensus.nih.gov/ cons/108/108_statement.htm)

As co-director of the Virginia chapter of the National Alliance of
Methadone Advocates, I ask please, before making statements like "the fact
is" and "to tell the truth," know the facts and the truth.

Charles "Hoss" Kitts

Co-director

VA NAMA

Bluefield, Va.