IN SCOTLAND THEY STILL DON’T GET IT: ADDICTION IS A CHRONIC MEDICAL DISEASE
Recent editorial comments and news articles reflect a new wave of attacks in Scotland on what’s described as the “quick methadone fix” (editorial, The Scotsman, 22 July), and the “’Black cloud’ of methadone use” (Scotsman 24 July). The current vitriol is occasioned by the tragic death of a two-year old who ingested her mother’s methadone, at a time when revised estimates suggest there are 21,000 opiate-dependent individuals who receive methadone maintenance, 7,000 of whom live in households with children under age 16. This has occasioned the leader of the Tories, Annabel Goldie, to urge a “programme that eradicates, rather than manages, the problem…”, and Fergus Ewing, the safety minister, “…promised to improve service provision to get people off methadone.”
Imagine politicians promising to “get people off insulin,” or dismissing medication that “manages” but fails to “eradicate” hypertension, asthma, arthritis, AIDS, etc! Consider attacking Alcoholics Anonymous because while it has helped countless alcoholics remain abstinent, it adamantly refuses to accept the notion that the disease of alcoholism can be “cured.”
Addiction is a chronic medical disease; get used to it! The good news is that it can be treated, often with extremely positive results, and the more people who need treatment that get it, the better.
posted by RGNewman, MD @ 2:44 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I am in complete agreement with all you said. People say we are substituting one addiction for another, but we are not. I was addicted to opiates in the form of pain pills for most of my adult life. I did things to obtain my pills that I would never consider now. Being on Methadone has given me my life back. I am once again a nice person, a responsible person, an honest person, and free from the obsession of the pills. I tried all the other methods, and nothing releived the constant mind games we play with ourselves, and the constant cravings and body pain. I am on a very low dose now, 20 mgs. a day, and will continue to manage my disease in just this way.
Those who refuse to believe addiction is a self inflicted selfishness are idiots. Never did I imagine as a child that I would grow up to be addicted to pills! None of us do, and all of us would give the world to be free of it, just as diabetics, MS sufferers, cancer victims, etc. would! We are no different. Just victims of indifferece and ignorance and cruel thinking. Anyone who has the courage to walk in my shoes for a day, and relive my life, is welcome to it, and THEN they are free to judge me.
When Methadone is administered in a controlled environment and coupled with psychiatric support, the results are always positive and absolutely life-saving and life-changing. Who would want to stop that? Only the ignorant and cruel.
Thanks for your article!
While I agree methadone is a short- term fix, that got me off of heroin, the detox from methadone has been far worse than any heroin detox. Show me how to taper any slower than I did and not suffer for at least 2 months. Don't ignore the severe physical dependence even 2 months of methadone will come with.
Post a Comment
<< Home