Our Views

I read an article today about a new scheme going on in England that is somehow supposed to end heroin addiction. It’s the U.K.’s equivalent of safe injection sites, heroin addicts come to the sites to shoot up, but the government supplies the drugs. The article describes it as ‘part of a government backed experiment to help them get clean’, but no mention is made of heroin detox, drug rehab, or any other treatment that will end addiction.

The readers’ comments after the article are interesting – most people are all for it.  However, a few take exception to the program stating that cancer (or other illness) sufferers are unable to receive life saving treatment from the government because of an alleged lack of funds, that older people receiving social security are not being adequately taken care of, and that people who’ve been contributing members of society all their lives are being ignored while the government spends money to supply drug addicts with heroin.

Good point.

The most ridiculous thing about it is that it does nothing to end heroin addiction. Why isn’t the money being spent on drug detox centers and drug rehab programs that can get people through a heroin detox and then rehabilitated so they can end their heroin addiction?

One more weird solution to a problem that’s relatively simple to handle. The most difficult thing about getting a heroin addict off drugs is overcoming their unwillingness to do something about their problem. Obviously, the addicts enrolling in this program are ready for a change - why not make it a change that really counts? End their heroin addiction through heroin detox and drug rehab. Give them back their lives.

Popularity: 19% [?]

I read an article earlier today about Pastor Gloria Kieler, a 65-year-old woman who has dedicated all her time and resources to helping people get off drugs. She’s been waiting for seven years for the promised government funding, and says that the money is going to a safe-injection site for heroin addicts instead of to heroin detox and other drug detox and rehab facilities that can actually end addiction.

Safe injection sites aren’t there to end heroin addiction, only a good heroin detox and rehab can do that. Gloria Kieler said it best, “”Do we keep alcoholics on booze? Smokers on tobacco? Of course not, so why do they think supplying free drugs to addicts is the answer?”

Good question, Gloria.

If you are suffering from heroin addiction or know someone who is, don’t be taken in by the idea of making it a little bit better – there’s really no such thing. You’re either addicted, or you’re not. Don’t think the problems will end with anything less than a heroin detox and drug rehab. They are the only real solutions to heroin addiction.

Popularity: 18% [?]

Heroin and other opiates killed more than double the number of people killed by guns in Massachusetts in 2005. Consequently, the state government, while acknowledging its failure to resolve the problem of heroin addiction by getting addicts into heroin detox and drug rehab, is going to distribute doses of Narcan to help addicts stay alive until they’re ‘ready for treatment.” Who says they’re not ready for treatment now?

According to a recent article, some paramedics and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy question the idea of one addict administering treatment to another - Narcan is squirted up the nose of someone who has overdosed on opiates to reverse the effects. The person doing the squirting would be another addict.

Others feel that heroin addiction would be encouraged by making Narcan available to all.

“You give them the Narcan, where is their motivation to change? The addict is going to say, ‘I just overdosed and I got another lease on life — great,” said Michael Gimbel, a recovering heroin addict who was director of substance abuse in Maryland’s Baltimore County for 23 years. “Giving Narcan might give them that false sense that ‘I can live forever,’ which is not what we want.”

I’ve been around plenty of heroin addiction, and was an addict myself, and I don’t believe that the threat of death is the only motivation an addict has to get off drugs. Just because they don’t walk into a drug detox center on their own and ask for help doesn’t mean they don’t want it, and it doesn’t mean they’re not ready for it. Don’t be fooled by their protests. They want to end their heroin addiction, and they need your help to do so.

If someone you care about is a heroin addict and you feel they’re not ready for treatment, call an interventionist to help you out. Don’t depend on Narcan to just keep him alive until he’s ‘ready’. It may never happen in the way that you’re expecting. A good interventionist will help get him to agree to treatment, and get him into a drug detox center so he can get through heroin addiction once and for all.

Popularity: 18% [?]

There are currently nearly one million heroin addicts in the U.S. and nearly another 100,000 were introduced to heroin in 2006. You may be one of them, or may know someone who is. If that’s the case, I hope you’re reading this to find a way to get that person, or yourself, into heroin detox so they can end their heroin addiction before it’s too late.

I used to be a heroin addict. Of all the drugs I’ve taken, it was the most debilitating. I was barely functional and didn’t work during the entire time I was using. Heroin detox or rehab never occurred to me. In fact, if others hadn’t prepared food I probably wouldn’t have eaten. I’ve gone to the hospital ER for things that were normal bodily functions, but I’d forgotten about them. I’ve overdosed with absolutely no awareness whatever of anything being wrong. Fortunately I was with several others who saved my life.

The same people were with me when the heroin I shot was cut with strychnine. Here are just a few of the symptoms of strychnine poisoning: painful muscle spasms that can cause a fever and kidney and liver injury, uncontrollable arching of the neck and back, rigid arms and legs, jaw tightness and difficulty breathing. Large doses bring about respiratory failure that can be fatal, and brain death.

I barely noticed those symptoms coming on. Fortunately someone else did, and I’m still alive. That gives you an idea of how dangerous heroin addiction can be.

If you, or someone you care about is using heroin, get them into heroin detox fast. Believe me, you never know what will happen next.

Popularity: 18% [?]

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: 11% [?]

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: 25% [?]

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: 11% [?]

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: 11% [?]

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: 11% [?]