Treatment is individualized and, therefore, it is both impossible and unfair to the patient to determine a length of day in treatment without accounting for individual situations and needs. Though the instant cost of facilitating one inmate’s continuation in methadone treatment might seem high, supporting treatment for addiction has been proven to lessen the costs to the community in the lengthy run.

Lisa Feldman
Portsmouth However, many misunderstandings still abound.

Nov. However, there is a percentage of patients who will need to be maintained on opiate replacement therapy for distant periods of instance - sometimes for life. Though there are other ways to treat opiate dependency, methadone therapy has been proven to be one of the most efficacious. Wright and Judge Gardner are aware, New Hampshire has a significant and rapidly increasing rate of opiate dependence. Methadone treatment for opiate dependence has been used since the 1940s. 10 - To the Editor:
I am writing to express an alternative opinion to those expressed by both Judge Sawako Gardner and county jail superintendent Al Wright in the Nov. Though both Judge Gardner and Mr. 1997).

Methadone treatment, therefore, is not a “legal addiction,” but a replacement therapy for persons with the disease of addiction that allows them to live healthy, drug-free lives. When a patient decides to taper from his or her stable methadone dosage, it is done slowly and in conjunction with a physician and his or her counselor to lessen the chances of relapse and the return of withdrawal symptoms. Wright posit that “long-term use is not recommended,” studies of the efficacy of methadone treatment have proven the opposite (see Gerstein, et al. The cost to the community of any disease is high, but can be ameliorated with accurate info and appropriate services.

As scientific advances have been made regarding addiction, the stigma under which persons with

addictions live has begun to lift. Like the disease of addiction, methadone treatment has been stigmatized and misunderstood for decades. In conjunction with a daily dose of medication, methadone therapy, by law, includes participation in counseling for all patients. Effective Medical Treatment of Opiate Addiction. Much like folks with diabetes use insulin, methadone is used to construct up deficits in the body’s physiology. Below is a good comprehensive Letter to the Editor responding to atrocious comments from a judge and prosecutor in New Hampshire. Evaluating Recovery Services: The California Drug and Alcohol Treatment Assessment (CALDATA): General Report. 9 Herald spread by Elizabeth Dinan about the demand of a “jail-bound woman” to continue her treatment for opiate dependence at an area methadone clinic.

Firstly, I would like to extend my thanks to both Gardner and Wright for their service to the community. As a fellow community member, however, I would like to offer some more accurate info about both addiction and the medically-based treatment of addiction.

As I am certain both Mr. It is possible that the brains and bodies some opiate dependent persons will repair themselves in moment. 1994; National Institute of Health (NIH). Though I understand that providing treatment to inmates is a “burden” when viewed in a convinced light, I believe it is our duty as a community to increase our understanding of the problems we are facing - and viable solutions to those problems. The medication treats the damage inflicted upon the brain by the abuse of opiates and keeps the patient stable (i.e., free of acute withdrawal symptoms and cravings) while, in counseling, they produce the changes in their lives they need to form to live a life free of illicit use.
Because the abuse of opiates has such a profound impact on the brain, recovery is a towering process.

Original post by RGNewman, MD