DIFFERENT CONTINENTS, DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON METHADONE TREATMENT
From Canberra (Australia): “Push for more methadone outlets”
Canberra Times, 20 Dec, 2009:
Michael Tedeschi, a senior specialist with the Australian Capital Territory's drug and alcohol program is quoted as follows: "We want patients to stay on programs, we want patients to have normal lives, have babies, get married, get a job."
Michael Moore, chief executive of the Public Health Association of Australia and a former ACT health minister, said that people who change to methadone … do so to try and change their lifestyle.… "The more normal [receiving methadone treatment] can become, the more likely they are to progress beyond heroin.''
Full story click here
And from Scranton, Pennsylvania: “Rep. Smith pushes moratorium on new methadone clinics” The Times-Union, 19 Dec, 2009
“Rep. Ken Smith is calling for an immediate moratorium on new methadone clinics opening in the state. … Mr. Smith also is proposing bills that would prohibit methadone clinics from locating with 500 feet of a school or establishment geared toward children; requiring an individual seeking treatment to undergo random drug testing at least once a week; and requiring methadone patients to be transported to and from a clinic by a driver with a valid Pennsylvania license.”
Full story click here.
posted by RGNewman, MD @ 10:42 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
And let's not forget Smith's OTHER directive--that MMT patients be limited to two years in treatment. Smith is attempting to practice medicine without a license. In what other situation does the govt. tell doctors how long they can prescribe medication for their patients? None. And the evidence shows full well that 90% of those leaving MMT relapse within the first year, yet Smith wants them FORCED out of the most successful treatment available for opioid addiction and back into almost certain relapse, and he bases this on NO scientific evidence, studies, etc--just his own personal opinion that two years seems long enough--to him.
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