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

229Mr. Brasco. Then for those who are shooting, what are they doing,using the mixture of the juice with that or some other form of methadonewhich is dispensed, such as pills ?;Dr. Jaffe. That is a fundamental point. Not everybody is as concernedabout this issue as we are, and therefore some people are usingdifferent forms of methadone tablets, methadone diskets, which may,in fact, at least in their presently constituted form, be so constructedthat it is possible to create an injectable form from jt. We knoM' thatwhen once dissolved in fruit juice of various kinds, it becomes impossibleto extract methadone with ordinary techniques.Mr. Brasco. So then as a starter, if we got to the point where methadonewas only dispensed with fruit juice, as you were talking about,and I assume both are equally effective, then we would be taking a longstep in the right direction in terras of having abuse of it reduced?Dr. Jaffe. May I make one comment? Let us avoid rigidity. It isalways the exception that makes life difficult. We have a patient who,after Avorking for 2 years, wanted to visit his wife's family inEurope. I would trust him with my life. I know him very well and his.'^'family and his wife.'' 'If we gave him 21 bottles of juice—he is going for 3 weeks—No. 1,it would spoil ; and No. 2, what do you think customs would say aboutthese 21 bottles of juice ? You tether him to a clinic. There has to besome form used for the exceptional case, and 21 little tablets that wouldhandle the situation, make it possible for him to function as a humanbeing in the exceptional situation.Mr. Brasco. Assuming that all of them are not going to Europe, andI take thatto be a fact oini nni mDr. Jaffe. That is true for the overwhelmiilg majority.Mr. Brasco (continuing). So that we still would be taking a longstep in the right direction wdth this little aside that you have in termsof possible exceptions cropping up ? ^^''t^ -f '* ' ^' ''Dr. Jaffe. Eight. I am not unaware this is a legislative group. So Iam saying I want to avoid seeing thmgs couched in such languagethat an exception automatically becomes a crime, because as soon asyou do that you really reduce the possibility of effective treatment.Mr. Brasco. No ; I wasn't talking about that. I was trying to definean area where we might recommend something.Dr. Jaffe. With strong recommendation for the exceptional casesit would be very helpful and would certainly reduce some of thepresent problems.Mr. Brasco. Just one last question."VVTien you use methadone intravenously, do you have the same experiencein terms of it becoming a short-lasting kind of effect as withheroin ?By that I mean if you start to shoot it, would you have to use itseveral times a day ?Dr. Jaffe. To the best of our knowledge. It is a little longer acting,but you certainly would have to use it several times a day. In practice,people who use methadone could use it several times a day.Mr. Brasco. Thank you. I have nothing else.Chairman Pepper. Mr. Steiger.Mr. Steiger. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.