Letters Page #702

Subject: RE: #675, Senate Resolution 295
From: tiffany@tiffanycity.com
Date: Jan. 06, 1999

Dear Sirs:

The amount of mis/disinformation in senate resolution #295 is astounding. As a recovering heroin addict currently on methadone maintenance, I can certainly attest that one can lead a very productive, normal life on methadone. Opiate addiction is a difficult problem to deal with that is best solved by giving the addict a controlled access to the medication he/she needs. Methadone is very, very cheap to produce and could easily be made available to addicts through a physician, instead of the cumbersome clinic process that now exists in the United States.

A zero-tolerance policy will be and has been shown to be a complete failure. Opiate use causes long-term metabolic changes that cannot be reversed by "just saying no" or other misdirected and puritanical daydreams. Maintenance in a medically controlled format has been shown (England, Netherlands, Switzerland) to be the most humane, cost-effective and realistic approach to dealing with heroin addiction.

Right-wing ideologues like McCain and others should face reality about who let the flood of heroin come into the US. Our own government of course, as a means of destroying "less desirable" segments of the population who don't fit in with the "new world order" of corporate/consumer addiction-control.

Treatment regimes should be expanded, made more accessible and humane. Of course, politicians like McCain want to continue to push the punishment/dinosaur approach down our throats. Fight the death mongers; the technology is here to stop the suffering. Realistic treatment/maintenance is the answer.

Thanks,
MMantra@tiffanycity.com