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

153Dr. DuPoNT. To do what ?Mr. Blommee. To satisfy their craving, assuming they are methadoneaddicts, to satisfy their craving for methadone.Dr. DuPoxT. And then stay in the program and pursue the coursewe are interested in in the program. So what is the problem?Mr. Blommer. The problem is you are aiding them in being addicts.Dr. DuPoNT. I don't see how we are aiding them in being addicts.They were addicts before they ever got there.Mr. Blommer. Doctor, is all the methadone dispensed by your clinicto the 1,700 people you are maintaining, is all that consumed in frontof you ?Dr. DuPoNT. No; the patients who are stabilized in the programhave take-home privileges and they take the methadone out with them.Mr. Blommer. Don't you see a problem ? Couldn't those people sellto the black market and then take heroin, for instance ?Dr. DuPoxT. Sure ; but I think you are looking at a little thing andoverlooking a big thing. Where do you think the methadone is comingfrom that is causing Mr. Koran's and other people's problems in FairfaxCounty ? It is not coming from our program. He knows that.He has said as much. Are you saying there should be no take-homemedication? What we need is widespread availability of good treatmentprograms, whether they are in Virginia or the District. If youdid that you would undercut tremendously the black market in heroin.You would undercut tremendously the death rates that we are seeing,and there would be a tremendous social gain associated with that. Theneed for good treatment is the big thing. Our take-home proceduresare the little thing. We also need to do something about the uncontrolled,unsupervised dispensing of methadone in the metropolitanarea. Do you agree with my statement ?Mr. Blommer. Well, to some degree; but you seem to premise thaton the fact that the black market now comes from unscrupulous doctors.Dr. DuPoNT. And perhaps other sources that I don't know about,but I am quite sure that it is not coming from our NTA program.Mr. Blommer. Do you have an opinion on how easy it is to manufacturemethadone ?Dr. DuPoxT. I talked to Mr. Ingersoll, Director of the Bureau ofNarcotics and Dangerous Drugs, and he said as far as he knew therewas no illegal manufacture of methadone.Mr. Blommer. My question is : Do you know how easy it is to manufactureit illicitly ?Dr. DuPox'^T. I don't know how easy it is.Mr. Blommer. Did Mr. Ingersoll tell you about the laboratory?Mr. DuPoxT. In Tupelo, Miss. They broke that one 2 years ago.Mr. Blommer. And that man had made 50 kilos of methadone.Dr. DuPoxT. Yes ; maybe it will be happening again. If your argumentis methadone is not a panacea and needs to be thought of as havinga serious abuse potential, I agree with you.Mr. Blommer. My argument is you should have far stricter controlsthan apparently you have.Dr. DuPoxT. There is no evidence of our methadone being a problemin terms of control. We have questioned the police to find if theyfind it in illicit channels. Our methadone is clearly labeled. The policehaven't brought even one bottle that they have found of our metha-60-296 O—71—pt. 1—^11