METHADONE IS FIX, BUT NOT GOOD ONE

This is in response to the article on the methadone clinics in
Alabama. As a licensed chemical dependency counselor and a recovering
heroin and opiate addict myself, I get discouraged whenever I read
anything about these facilities.

In the article, Dr. Norman Huggins says an opiate addiction is a brain
disease that requires chemical treatment. I will agree in saying that
addiction is a disease, but I and thousands of other people in this
country have found a way to get over our addiction through counseling
and work in a 12-step program. In addiction, the chemical is only a
symptom of the disease, and substituting one drug for another just
keeps the individual in a helpless state of mind.

The disease of addiction has many aspects, including mental, physical,
emotional and spiritual immaturity. Methadone clinics do nothing to
help build the individual back up to the point he was before the
addiction started. While they may require more time and work effort,
12-step programs work, and in the end, one can say he does not have to
depend on any chemical to get through the day.

Michael Evans

Mountain Brook