Narcotics research, rehabilitation, and treatment. Hearings, Ninety ...
Share Embed Flag
Download ePaper

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

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

library.whnlive.com
from library.whnlive.com More from this publisher
12.07.2015 Views

:258you best complete your statement and then we willcome back forinquiries.Mr. HoRAX. The second thing we find is a number of cases of nonheroinaddicts being dispensed methadone in the District of Columbiafrom private practitioners. These are kids that weren't addictsto begin with, and they are getting methadone without being a trueaddict.You may have read about the reporter from the Northern VirginiaSun who had never had a narcotic in his life, came over here, plunkeddown $15 and he got methadone in a hand}' carryout dose.Third. Methadone addiction appears to be growing at a faster ratethan heroin addiction. Our drug treatment program over the pastyear found it necessary to engage in medical detoxification of 39 patients.Thirteen of these were detoxified for a heroin habit and 26were detoxified for a methadone habit. A large majority of those detoxifiedwere below age 20.Fourth. Some of the users were obtaining methadone by going toone physician on one da^?- and a different physician a couple of dayslater. This resulted in their being able to obtain a weekly supply fromeach physician in the same week.Fifth. Dr. Vincent Dole originally felt that one of the main reasonsfor dispersing methadone diluted in fruit juice was that nobody wouldshoot it. We find many, many provable cases of injection directly intothe vein of methadone mixed with juice or Tang.As a matter of fact, the interior of the lungs of one of the recentdeath cases was coated with a material that was consistent withmethadone abuse. There is only one way to get that on the interiorlining of the lungs, and that is through a vein.Many cases of nonfatal overdose began to show^ up simply becausemethadone was entirely too much drug for the drug abusers in ourarea, particularly when it was being injected rather than taken orally.An addict may have been getting 2- or 3-percent heroin in his veinand all of a sudden he is getting a relatively pure drug in methadoneand his central mervous system can't stand it. His respiratory systemfails, he stops breathing.Sixth. A great number of our citizens were not even aware thattheir youngsters were involved in a so-called methadone treatmentprogram in the District. Their kids were in treatment programs. Theydidn't know the treatment involved the daily dispensing of phj-sicallyaddicting narcotics.In conclusion I want to say that methadone maintenance probablydoes have a proper place and is the only mode of treatment in soniccases. However, I strongly endorse the caveat of this committee, atpage 82 of its report of January 2, 1971, entitled "Heroin and HeroinParaphernalia," where in this committee saidEvery precaution against diversion mnst be olxserved. While we believe tliatdrug should be reclassified, we do not believe that individual private practitionersshould be allowed to prescribe methadone for prolonged maintenance of individualheroin addicts.The footnote to that caveat gets to the heart of tlie issue, in my opinion,where tliis committee states: "Methadone maintenance must beaccompanied b}' proper psychiatric, social, and vocational services.''

;259- I would only add to that the suggestion that maintenance should notbe the original mode of treatment except in an isolated class of casesand secondly, that in the case of many young suburban abusers properpsychiatric, social, and rocational services will obviate/ tjiie necessityof maintenance to begin with. ,\ .,.Mr. Waldie. Thank you, Mr. Ploran.There will be, I am sure, a number of questions to be asked of you.Hopefully we v^^ill reconvene at 1 o'clock.The committee will remain in recess until that time.(Thereupon the committee recessed to reconvene at 1 p.m.)Afternoon SessionMr. Mann (presiding). The committee will come to order.Prior to the recess, Mr. Horan was testifying and we will resumehis testimony.Mr. Horan, you had completed your statement in chief ?Mr. Horan. Yes ; I have, sir.Mr. Mann. All right ; Mr. Perito, will you inquire ?Mr. Perito. Thank you, Mr. !Mann.Mr. Horan, I assume from your testimony that you are not opposedto properh^ run methadone programs ; is that correct ?Mr. HoKAN. Tliat is correct.j\Ir. Perito. It is the thrust of your testimony then, if I underst.mdit, that you consider that your problem is different from the problemin the District of Columbia or in New York City; would that becorrect ?Mr. HoRAN. I certainly think that is so, predominantly because Ithink we have a different breed of addict than New York City has,sir.]Mr. Perito. Would NTA be the type of program that you point to asan example that you could support ?Mr. HoRAN. That may be a little far.From the point of view of the one issue of the ability to di\'ertmethadone into drug abuse circles, I have no evidence that we haveever seen any methadone in our area that has come out of NTA.From that point of view I am satisfied with the NTA controls at thispoint in time.On the second issue, my difficulty with NTA is that they appefir tobe, on the surface, entirely too methadone prone. That seems to bethe big thing with them as opposed to what I think is a growing tendencyin research programs to indicate that different modes of treatmentare necessary.Mr. Perito. And you believe that the propensity toward methadonedistribution in a clinical setting causes you, as a prosecutor, problems?Mr. Horan. Yes ; I think so.Mr. Perito. And those problems come from diversion ?Mr. Horan. They come from diversion. They also come from '^hepsychological attitude, if you will, that methadone is the cure, and voufind an awful lot of addicts, who discover it really isn't the cure, it isjust another drug for those addicts. It just continues to be a difficultcriminal problem.

;259- I would only add to that the suggestion that maintenance should notbe the original mode of <strong>treatment</strong> except in an isolated class of cases<strong>and</strong> secondly, that in the case of many young suburban abusers properpsychiatric, social, <strong>and</strong> rocational services will obviate/ tjiie necessityof maintenance to begin with. ,\ .,.Mr. Waldie. Thank you, Mr. Ploran.There will be, I am sure, a number of questions to be asked of you.Hopefully we v^^ill reconvene at 1 o'clock.The committee will remain in recess until that time.(Thereupon the committee recessed to reconvene at 1 p.m.)Afternoon SessionMr. Mann (presiding). The committee will come to order.Prior to the recess, Mr. Horan was testifying <strong>and</strong> we will resumehis testimony.Mr. Horan, you had completed your statement in chief ?Mr. Horan. Yes ; I have, sir.Mr. Mann. All right ; Mr. Perito, will you inquire ?Mr. Perito. Thank you, Mr. !Mann.Mr. Horan, I assume from your testimony that you are not opposedto properh^ run methadone programs ; is that correct ?Mr. HoKAN. Tliat is correct.j\Ir. Perito. It is the thrust of your testimony then, if I underst.mdit, that you consider that your problem is different from the problemin the District of Columbia or in New York City; would that becorrect ?Mr. HoRAN. I certainly think that is so, predominantly because Ithink we have a different breed of addict than New York City has,sir.]Mr. Perito. Would NTA be the type of program that you point to asan example that you could support ?Mr. HoRAN. That may be a little far.From the point of view of the one issue of the ability to di\'ertmethadone into drug abuse circles, I have no evidence that we haveever seen any methadone in our area that has come out of NTA.From that point of view I am satisfied with the NTA controls at thispoint in time.On the second issue, my difficulty with NTA is that they appefir tobe, on the surface, entirely too methadone prone. That seems to bethe big thing with them as opposed to what I think is a growing tendencyin <strong>research</strong> programs to indicate that different modes of <strong>treatment</strong>are necessary.Mr. Perito. And you believe that the propensity toward methadonedistribution in a clinical setting causes you, as a prosecutor, problems?Mr. Horan. Yes ; I think so.Mr. Perito. And those problems come from diversion ?Mr. Horan. They come from diversion. They also come from '^hepsychological attitude, if you will, that methadone is the cure, <strong>and</strong> voufind an awful lot of addicts, who discover it really isn't the cure, it isjust another drug for those addicts. It just continues to be a difficultcriminal problem.

logo

products

Resources

Company

Terms of service
Privacy policy
Cookie policy
Cookie settings
Imprint
Change language
Made with love in Switzerland
© 2024 Yumpu.com all rights reserved

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!