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

•As286I got to the point once in terms of the methadone we are talking aboutin the private practitioner's hands, there were a number of houses atone point, about 4 or 5 years ago, who were dealing with drug addiction: Exodus House, Phoenix House. These drug addicts are prettyshrewd. They come in with, "Doc, I am drug addict, I want to kick thehabit and if you give me something to help it. I swear I am going tokick it. I have a job, a family, I can't go into a program."Most of the time, of course, this was something I wouldn't acceptfrom them. I thought at this point maybe if you get a drug addict orany kind of addict who has some motivation, maybe you can use thatmotivation and direct it.So I contacted Exodus House and we got together on a programwhere as somebody came to my office under those circumstances Iwould say, "Look, if you are really sincere and you want to do somethingI will give you enough Dolophine, methadone, to withdraw butnot yet, you first have to go to Exodus House, you have to get involvedwith a meeting there, get a letter from them and come back here."I will give you enough for 2 days, until the next meeting, and 2 daysmore, and 1 day more, until you are withdrawn."Mr. Horan said, public relations in the drug addict communityis so great that they were falling all over themselves in my office waitingfor prescriptions for methadone.Sure, they hit the first meeting, the second meeting, but I think outof the whole group, maybe I did about 30 in a month's period of time,there wasn't one that really made it.Eeally what they were doing, if the habit is getting to be so highthat they can't afford that kind of habit, the methadone cuts it so thatthey can go and start back down again on one bag instead of five orthree instead of 10, or if things are tight on the street and they can'tget it, methadone is a good thing.I don't know their names, but there are a lot of practitioners I knowof who will give you a prescription any time you walk in. They arenot involved in drug-addiction programs. They are selling methadoneprescriptions.Chairman Pepper. Mr. Steiger, any questions?Mr. Steiger. Yes, Mr. Chairman.Let me understand. Dr. Casriel, this Perse will detoxify an5^bodywho is addicted chemically, I use that advisedly, recognizmg that anopiate is a natural derivative, including alcohol ; is that correct ?Dr. Casriel. That is correct.Mr. Steiger. When you say detoxify an alcoholic, are you sayingthat works when a gaiy is hungover, v.ill this cure the hangover feeling,because this is something I understand ?Dr. Rosen. No; hungover is not a criteria of alcoholism. Wliat weare dealing Avith is somebody who has passed over the line from socialdrinking to compulsive."What the Perse will do, and it is very interesting, because of thisstuff Dr. Casriel came up with, because I didn't know some of theseconcepts—some of the concepts up at Columbia about the developmentof alkaloids—what happens in anybody's body when they take a drink,what is the physiological mechanism. They have come up with somestudies that have shown there are actually alkaloids produced in thebrain that are similar to the alkaloids of hallucino