Letter: 1
I have read the letter written by Brandi and have to say that like most addicts that are on methadone, they continue to take their "drug of choice" making their eventual (if they ever get to it) withdrawal compounded by the fact that they are withdrawing for more than one addicting substance.

I used to work at a methadone clinic in Cleveland and saw people I knew from 25 years prior from the same clinic. One thing I was glad to know they were still alive and on the other hand I was saddened that they continued to use heroin. Heroin is one of the most difficult drugs to stop the usage of. People who result to sticking needles in their arms, or wherever, are not happy people and are what we in the chemical dependency community consider to the the "heavyweights", meaning sticking needles in yourself is serious business and a drug is a drug is a drug, yet to add self-mutilation on top of it tells just how "unhappy" the user is.

Getting the person off of heroin or methadone or both is not the problem, keeping them off and dealing with the reason for which they turned to those types of drugs is. Addicts have to learn new "coping" skills, new ways of dealing with a crisis, new ways to deal with their stress, their childhood abuse issues, etc. Don't think because it happened in the past it is over and done with. It has shaped who you are today, it has shaped how you act and react to life, to people, to situations etc.

That was the most difficult element of recovery I found working at the methadone clinic and being a recovering addict. Don't even try to get off of any substance until you have learned new skills because 96% of the people who try, return to use of whatever their drug of choice was, be it heroin, methadone, cigarettes, food, sex, whatever.
And please don't make the error of mistaking AA or NA for a recovery program as it is not. It is a support group of addicts trying to keep themselves and other addicts clean. They do not teach you how to deal with your issues that caused you to use in the first place. Yet they are a wonderful support program

Utilizing 12-Step in conjunction with psychotherapy is a winning combination, plus being abstinent from your drug of choice.
Best of luck
Rain Spirit

Letter 2

I am a clinical social worker (therapist) with a CCDCIII license (Chemical Dependency Counselor, the highest degree is III), in the state of OH.

I have mixed feelings about methadone, for this reason. Methadone has saved lives, yes. Methadone has "enslaved" people, i.e. tieing them to the clinic. Yet, today almost all clinics (CAAA in CLeveland was the last to break down and given take home meds, for over 30 years they would NOT give any clients take home meds for ANY reason) give take home meds and can go on vacations, and you can contact clinics in the city in which you wish to vacation and hook up getting your meds there if you prefer. With take home meds, this is not "tieing" you to the clinic.

There are people, whom I believe, have damaged their brain chemistry so badly that they need the methadone just to straighten them out. There are pro's and con's to this theory, yet there are pro's and con's to all theories. If you are afraid of getting "tied" to a clinic, then do a 21 day detox, it works great as the heroin is out of your system and the methadone has not had time to take hold in the form of an addiction. Yet, this is not the addicts problem. The addict HAS to learn new coping skills rather than to turn to chemicals to handle their feelings and crisis and stress.

Until that time, nothing will work. Thank you for listening.
Rainspirit
 

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