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

:300vent them from coming to New York to get their "free lunch?'' What will we dowith the deluge? Will they have to be a citizen of New York to obtain free or lowcost methadone? They will not have to be a citizen of New York to steal fromthe citizens of New York. What will prevent the have nots from buying andstealing some methadone from the haves? Do the proponents of maintenancereally believe that a new underworld market in methadone will not be established?How about the millions of addictive prone—how many of these people willbecome addicts because it is legal or at least so much easier to obtain? Have weforgotten the reasons for the original narcotic laws? Are we prepared to treat6-8 million addicts in addition to the 6-8 million alcoholics we already have?Some proponents of methadone maintenance therapy state the glamour will betaken out of addiction when the addict drinks his opiate rather than injects itinto his arm. First, addiction to the addict is about as glamorous as terminalcancer. Secondly, those that need to inject something into their vein (very fewhave a symbolic need * * * they use a vein because it gives them the quickeststrongestkick) will continue to inject something. And thirdly, many would-beaddicts who have a fear of injection, now could have an additional large steadysource of oral supply to start them on their road to heroin.FINANCIALThe proponents of methadone maintenance introduce a point that appeals tothe taxpayer, i.e., methadone is the cheapest treatment, about 13 cents a day.A closer look at the figures yields these facts :$85 a day for early phase inpatient care (6 weeks approximately).$5 a day for outpatient service.Against the normal term of 18 months for rehabilitation in the therapeuticcommunities, such as Daytop Village, the comparison cost of methadone care ishigherMethadone (18 months inpatient (6 weeks) and outpatient) (16% months).$5,887.Therapeutic community (e.g., Daytop) (18 months), $5,748.And when you consider the fact that after the 18 months, the therapeuticcommunity (Daytop) produces a drug-free, resiwnsive recovered individualwhile methadone maintenance produces a dependent addicted individual, thecomparison becomes clearer. Over a period of 10 years the Daytop graduatewill have 8Vi years of autonomous, productive (tax-paying) performance withadditional cost to Government while methadone maintenance will produced afull 10 years of drug dependence at a total 10 years of $25,470 per individual.And the final point against methadone. Diseases, like this are unethical andimmoral. They do not play the game according to the conditions set forth. Whenwill we learn that you cannot do business with disease? If we do not destroydisease, disease will destroy us. There is no compromise. There can be no maintenance.And now for the third army in the field fighting the enemy addictive disease,a growing army in which I am proud to be among the leaders. An army composednot only of professionals, but of doctors, psychologists, sociologists, socialworkers, clerical workers, enforcement oflScers, judges, officials from the Departmentof the Treasury, customs oflicials, but now we have in our ranks the rehabilitatedvictims that were in the enemy organization. We have a new breedof men, the ex-addict, who by his training has been a paraprofessional, ready,willing, and able to assist us and one other in depleting the enemy's forces:addicts, * * * bound in slavery to their addiction, and in destroying once andfor all the enemy * * * sometimes called addiction, sometimes called criminality,sometimes called pothead, sometimes called alcoholism, sometimes called homosexuality,sometimes called school dropouts, sometimes called the inadequatepersonality, * * * always called the character disorder.For over 7 years I have observed and taken part in the fight against addictionby a new tactic, a new philosophy, which on one hand is very difficult, yeton the other hand whose tactics are so obvious as to sometimes be oversimplifiedand called common sense. After working intensively learning the process oftreatment of the drug addict specifically and the character disorder in general,I was finally able to trace it back and evolve a psychodynamic theory which to