Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...

I114you have some data there that shows that a goodly portion of them doreturn.Mr. Brasco. They do return ?Dr. Gearing. Although a small proportion of them go into abstinenceprograms.Mr. Brasco. In connection with dispensing of methadone, I understoodyou to say that initially the patients took their dosage at the institutionwhere they entered the program and later on they come twice aweek.Dr. Gearing. Some of them come twice a week. Some of them neverget beyond the every day. This depends upon a good many things, includingtheir own rehabilitation.Mr. Brasco. I take it those who come twice a weekDr. Gearing. Yes ; in a locked box.Mr. Brasco. No;I wasn't trying to be—I personally agree with yourfirst statement. Maybe I should have said that first, that this is probablythe best we have to offer.Dr. Gearing. At the present time.Mr. Brasco. What 1 was trying to do was to get some answers fromyou. The program has been from time to time, as you know, criticized.One of the things is the incidence of death. I heard some statistics—am not saying it is true, I am just sayingDr. Gearing. That is from what, bv whom ?Mr. Brasco. Where did we get the statistic, Paul, with respect tothe deaths ?Mr. Steiger. In children.Dr. Gearing. Death in children, three.Mr. Steiger. Six.Dr. Gearing. Is it six now ? In New York City ?Mr. Steiger. Here, in Washington, D.C.Mr. Brasco. In any event, is there any reason why we couldn't haveall of the people in the program report every day for their dose?Dr. Gearing. It impairs the rehabilitation of the patient. In tryingto be fair to a patient you would like to give him some freedom as hestabilizes and becomes a productive citizen.Therefore, this is actually the one punitive measure that is used ina program, and that is if a patient begins getting into trouble or actingup or abusing other drugs they are put back to having to come inevery day.At the moment, they are all given weekend medication to takehome.Mr. Brasco. Just one last question in connection with Mr. Wigginsline of questioning concerning the fact that some of the methadonewas getting into the streets of New York. That must be measured withthe severe limitations that there are in connection with the program.I had a young man come to my office several weeks ago, and it tookme a day and a half, calling all oVer the place, trying to find a spotfor him. ,In any event, I kind of suspect that if the program was developedi n large cities in the way that you describedDr. Gearing. The program is expanding astronomically.Mr. Brasco (continuing). There would never been any need tor itbeing dispensed by anyone else.