Our Views

Although heroin detox is not easy, it can be relatively comfortable if it’s done right. All detox programs follow a protocol for withdrawal – a series of steps that have been proven to help people detox from heroin in the past and have become the standard way to do it. These steps may include giving the person drugs to help them with the physical and emotional pain. Although many people have done a detox program successfully, it’s not unusual for a person to go through several heroin detox programs that don’t really work for them to handle their heroin addiction.

The problem is that just doing what the book says is not always enough – each person responds differently to heroin addiction, withdrawal, and the steps and drugs taken in heroin detox. If the detox program is not sensitive to those differences and just does exactly the same thing with everyone, it can be unsuccessful.

The best detox method for handling a heroin addiction is a detox plan that is tailored just for you. If you’ve been through other heroin detox programs and want to get it done right this time, or if you want to do it right the first time, you need a heroin detox program that is the precise treatment you need to make your heroin detox as successful and as comfortable as possible. That’s exactly what we do at Novus. A good heroin detox program is the beginning of the end of heroin addiction.

Popularity: 17% [?]

I just read a remarkable news item about heroin addicts in England receiving rewards when they test clean for crack and cocaine. The addict, who now has a methadone addiction instead of a heroin addiction, turns up at the methadone clinic for a drug test and if he passes his urine test for cocaine and crack, can get one of several rewards - extra methadone, shopping coupons, anti-depressants and, if they’re lucky, access to a drug detox program.

I don’t know what outrages me about this more: the fact that they went to a methadone treatment clinic to get off heroin and were given another addictive drug, methadone, instead; the fact that getting extra methadone as a reward digs them further into the hole they’re already in; the fact that their given other dangerous drugs – antidepressants – as a reward for good behavior; or the fact that drug detox is withheld from them in the first place.

What kind of game is this? Here’s how I see it – heroin addict goes to clinic to get off heroin, instead of being given the chance to do that through drug detox and rehab his addiction is intentionally prolonged by being given a different additive drug, then he’s told that if he can stop himself from taking drugs other than the new addictive drug he’s been given, he may be allowed to get off drugs. Or, he may be put on another dangerous drug – an antidepressant.

Seems like the best these methadone clinics have to offer someone who comes to them to get off heroin is addiction to methadone and discount coupons for some new clothes. What a deal.

I’ve heard some pretty crazy ideas in my time, but I think this one takes the cake. What’s the icing? England spends $1 billion on methadone clinics when the money could be invested in drug detox and rehab centers that could actually get heroin addicts off drugs.

Popularity: 33% [?]

The operating license for the safe injection site in Vancouver has been extended to June 2008. The director of the site said that people who come to the site are more likely to go into drug detox than those who don’t come to the site. Logical, since someone is talking to them about it. But she’s not saying how many heroin addicts that amounts to, and you’d think she’d be screaming it from the rooftops since she’s trying to save her clinic. Shouldn’t that be the goal of any ‘drug treatment’ program? To get people into drug detox and drug rehab so they can get off drugs?

And how many of Vancouver’s 12,000 injection drug users are actually coming to the site? And how much is it costing the city? And how else could that money be used to actually get people off drugs through drug detox and drug rehab program? How effective are they at ending heroin addiction?

These are the questions being asked by Canada’s Prime Minister. He’s cracking down on drug use - approving an exemption to the law making heroin illegal and providing a place for people to shoot up doesn’t seem to be the way to do it. He’s having a problem with that. And, frankly, I don’t blame him. Unless the safe injection site can show that they’re really getting people into a drug detox program and drug rehab in substantial numbers, the money would be better spent on initiatives that do accomplish that.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’ve wondered, many times, how people who work in methadone clinics sleep at night. People come to them addicted to heroin, wanting to get off drugs and, instead, they are offered addiction to methadone as an alternative. What are they thinking? Why don’t they get heroin addicts into drug detox and rehab?

There are all kinds of reasons – most of which amount to choosing what is perceived as the lesser of two evils. But that’s like killing someone ‘humanely’ – they’re still dead.

Really, we’re just trading one problem for another. Why don’t people at methadone clinics simply get the addicts coming to them for help into drug detox and rehab? It isn’t as if they’re not available. There are thousands of rehab centers all over the country.

Many heroin addicts - I would say ‘most’, but I don’t have the stats on it - never get to the point of willingly going to a drug treatment facility of any sort and asking for help. It’s rare. So, here’s the addict, he’s finally gotten up to the point of wanting help, and instead of getting him the drug detox and rehab he needs, he’s given another drug to which he then becomes addicted. If I did that, I’d have trouble living with myself.

Time to take off the rose-colored glasses. The lesser of two evils is not enough. Heroin addicts and the loved ones who usually get them into treatment should demand a drug detox program and rehab so they can get off drugs, and treatment facilities should demand their right to deliver it.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Today I read the heartwarming story of Lindsay Kersh, a Utah girl who overcame her heroin addiction. She went through hell during the detox: “I didn’t sleep for five days because I had these huge goosebumps all over my body. I couldn’t stand my skin to touch anything and I couldn’t even lie down. I was sick to my stomach and felt like I had the worst flu ever. The movies don’t come close to showing what kicking is really like, ” she said. You can see why many people choose to stay addicted rather than go through withdrawal. Unless you go to a medically supervised heroin detox that gives you mild drugs to help you through the worst of it, it’s not easy.

I kicked heroin cold turkey myself – it’s a little like having a baby, an intensely painful process, but soon forgotten. The incredible feeling of being clean overshadows everything you had to do to get there.

For those who have a low pain threshold, I would recommend a heroin detox that helps you through the worst of it with mild drugs and also focuses on nutrition. Heroin itself is extremely debilitating physically, but added to that is also the fact that heroin addicts aren’t usually eating healthy, well-balanced meals or taking vitamins. In fact, it’s not uncommon for a heroin addict to eat almost nothing.

If the detox program you do includes nutritional help, you can come out of the detox feeling better than you’ve felt in years.

Lindsay is now Utah’s recovery poster child. She looks great, and is looking forward to her new drug-free life. If someone you care about needs help with heroin addiction, read them Lindsay’s story, and then get them into heroin detox fast.

Popularity: 15% [?]

John O’Leary, Jr. was arrested at his home last Monday evening. Police found 36 small bags of heroin. O’Leary was looking at charges of possession with intent to deliver, unlawful delivery of heroin (don’t ask me what ‘lawful’ delivery of heroin is), unlawful possession of heroin (what’s the lawful kind again?), and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Bail was $50,000. He couldn’t afford it, so went to jail. According to his daughter, he started withdrawing from heroin while in prison and, because he wasn’t taken to a medically supervised heroin detox, the withdrawal killed him.

O’Leary arrived at the prison 12:15 a.m. Tuesday – shortly after midnight. About 27 hours later O’Leary’s cellmate called for help and O’Leary was pronounced dead about ½ an hour after that.

Kind of strange – if the withdrawal symptoms were so severe, why didn’t the cellmate alert the staff earlier? Surely, O’Leary’s symptoms didn’t come on that suddenly. What was going on during the prior 27 hours?

In any case, the attending doctor said O’Leary died from cardiovascular disease –arteries so severely blocked that the flow of oxygen was cut off, and his heart stopped. But O’Leary’s daughter said she’s not aware of her father having heart disease and says he was basically neglected during withdrawal. O’Leary’s daughter not being aware of her father having a heart problem doesn’t surprise me: How many heroin addicts are going to their family doctor for regular checkups to make sure they’re in good health? He probably didn’t know he had a problem either - heroin addiction tends to obscure other physical conditions.

When I was on heroin I went to the ER and found out I had a kidney infection so severe they kept me in there for a week. But I had gone to the ER for a totally different reason - I didn’t have a clue I had a kidney infection.
 
Heroin detox – i.e., withdrawal - while it can be very painful, isn’t likely to kill someone unless they have a pre-existing condition which, according to the attending doctor, O’Leary had. With that kind of complication, yes, it’s possible someone could die during heroin detox – or any detox for that matter. In fact, he probably could have died with just mild exertion.

The fact is, a heroin addict isn’t likely to be aware of conditions that may make withdrawal dangerous. To be safe, it’s best to ensure that someone who wants to end their heroin addiction either gets a medical exam first to determine if they’re up to it, or goes to a medically supervised heroin detox program. Drug rehab is their next stop.

Popularity: 18% [?]

The Australian government has proposed a zero-tolerance policy on drug addiction that, if implemented, could come close to putting an end to the drug problem. Unfortunately, it is steeped in controversy. Nevertheless, I’m quite certain that anyone with a heroin addiction problem, or a family member who’s lived through that horror, would be hard-pressed to disagree with the recommendations.

The Parliament is recommending a three-fold program: mandatory drug rehab for young addicts, re-channeling harm reduction funds into drug-free drug rehab programs, and adopting out the children of addicts.

Okay, so the adopting out the children of addicts part is obviously going to be a real sore point. And forcing young people into drug rehab might also be a stretch. But using harm reduction funds for drug-free drug rehab could be just what the doctor ordered – especially for heroin addiction, the drug problem that most lends itself to ‘drug replacement therapy’ and is prominent in harm reduction. What heroin addicts really need is a good heroin detox to help them through withdrawal and then a good drug rehab program that gets them pointed in the right direction.

The long and short of it this: heroin addicts are given methadone instead of heroin – they don’t get a handle on their heroin addiction, they just switch to methadone. How is this harm reduction? They’re getting their drugs legally, they don’t have to use someone else’s dirty needle so they’re not going to get AIDS or Hepatitis C, and they don’t commit crimes to get their drugs. That’s harm reduction.

But it really does nothing to address the heroin addiction. And it does nothing to address the problems that drove the person to drugs. So, we still have an addict – someone who can’t function without drugs. And a drugged society. Heroin detox and rehab that actually handles heroin addiction is obviously the better choice.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Without changes in the laws, getting prescription drug addiction under control is going to be a long haul. The good news is that yesterday I read an article about a doctor pushing addictive drugs being sentenced to 20 years, and today we have another little drug ring, again with a doctor, that may get the same sentence. If we keep knocking them down quickly – and educate the public so they’re more aware of the dangers of prescription drugs and why they need drug detox, not more drugs, we may actually be able to do something about the problem.

Today’s story involves a doctor, a cop and three others. The police officer and two others allegedly posed as patients, and they apparently recruited others to do the same, and got prescriptions from the doctor. Then they filled the prescriptions and sold the drugs. The doctor was part of the alleged scheme, which went on from 2002 to 2006.

The drugs included OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Dilaudid, Suboxone and Xanax and, apparently, methadone. Two patients died from methadone overdoses, and another was seriously injured. The article didn’t say if the patients were doing methadone treatment for heroin addiction.

The cop is also being charged with using controlled substances while on the job. Or, at least, while he was in possession of his weapon. He first faced charges in May of this year and has been suspended without pay since that time.

So, we have a doc gone bad, and a cop. The cop obviously has a drug problem of his own. Maybe if he’d gotten into a good drug detox program and handled his own habit, he would have been the arresting officer in this case instead of the criminal.

Popularity: 26% [?]

Yet another step in the wrong direction in the war against drugs – Copenhagen is setting up safe ‘health rooms’ where addicts can inject their medically prescribed methadone. 275 people in Copenhagen died of drug related causes in 2005 and health officials see ‘health rooms’ as the first step in addressing the problem. Unfortunately, there was no mention of actually getting the addicts drug free through methadone detox or rehab.

Perhaps they don’t know the statistics. Do they know, for example, that 1,881 people died from heroin in the U.S. in 2004 and 3,849 people died from methadone in the same year? We don’t know how many methadone users there are, but we do know about 200,000 are in ‘methadone treatment’. And there are about 800,000 heroin addicts.

Maybe officials in Copenhagen are going to improve the scene with ‘health rooms’, but it’s still just a jump from the fire to the frying pan. Not much better.

Why not just get them off drugs for crying out loud? It can be done. Millions of people have done it. Why mess around with a solution that just becomes another problem? It amazes me that intelligent people concerned about drug addiction think some drugs are okay.

Methadone addiction, heroin addiction – what’s the difference? Really? What are they thinking? If they were really serious about handling the drug problem, they’d get these people into a methadone detox program and finish the job.

Popularity: 26% [?]