Published: December 06, 2007 10:24 am            

Drugs touch many lives - Week 20

December 5, 2007 — Editor’s Note: This is a series of first-hand accounts of lives touched by drugs here in Carter County The names will be changed or deleted to protect identity.



First I would like to say that YES there is a place in Huntington, WV where opiate dependent people go to receive counseling and/or treatment to get off of drugs. The name of this establishment is the Huntington Treatment Center not the “Methadone Clinic” and it is located at (135 4th Ave Huntington, WV). The telephone number is 304-525-5691. NO, they don’t tell you that “we will get you off drugs”. They do on the other hand try their best to help you in making the right decisions for treatment and give you the counseling and support you need to help you help yourself get off of the drugs. This treatment center is not a pain clinic. It is not designed to treat patients for their pain. They do not distribute medication to persons inquiring methadone for pain. This program is for opiate dependent people only. The treatment center uses a medication-based treatment to help people get off of opioid drugs such as Heroin, Oxycontin, Oxycodone and other opiate based drugs through a process of stabilizing their cravings and centering the problem. In my opinion and I do say My opinion. The problems start in our communities. They’re not getting our young adults and children involved in enough extra-activities, and the lack of parental control only puts mischief in the minds of our children. I myself am a patient at the Huntington Treatment Center. I have attended there for about a year now. A year you say, Why so long? Well different people have different tolerance and cravings. Will power is one thing but when you can’t focus without the drug then how is will power going to do any good? You need help and that’s what I got. I have turned my life around completely. I was addicted to Oxycontin for about 6-8 months. Everyday I had to get out of bed feeling like Death warmed over, drive to my local dealer’s house, get one of my many fixes for the day. This usually happened around 3-4 times a day. This sometimes cost me well into the hundreds of dollars range to support my habit. This created more problems financially and mentally. It often forces people into more illicit or illegal activities such as stealing, trafficking, and selling of another drug to make the money required to support the habits of another. This contributes to the crime rate, unemployment rate, teenage pregnancy and high school dropouts. After beginning the treatment program I have since then held down a job. I no longer have to be affiliated with the “drug world” anymore. I can live a normal life again with out the fear of incarceration due to illegal activities. Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to justify what I am doing as being right and I am not trying to sugarcoat it. But consider the alternatives. You don’t tell a smoker that they have to quit smoking. Smoking is just as if not more harmful to the human body than Methadone. But you can’t take smokers cigarettes away and expect them to quit. They only quit when they want too, and when they believe they are ready to quit in some cases even if it means death. But nobody writes articles about smokers. Why is there not a section in here called “Cigarettes touch many lives”? It’s not because they don’t kill people. It’s not because they aren’t addictive. Is it because they are not illegal to possess. Oh but they are if you are under 18. Yet nobody makes any effort to stop the smoking in the community. Nicotine is a drug too, and a very addictive one at that. You have to remember that the drugs that our children are doing are not illegal but the manor in which they are acquiring them makes them illegal. Such as selling and buying other persons prescriptions or taking/getting them from their mom and dads medicine bottle that wasn’t stored properly under lock and key. Methadone on the other hand is distributed daily in front of a registered nurse, in a dose (liquid or tablet) deemed suitable for the patient. Prescribed by a doctor. If all narcotics were dispensed this way then there would be none left on the streets for people to get hold of for illegal use. Why is Methadone the only drug done this way? After months of maintenance patients can acquire (based on drug screen results) take home doses. But only after a trust is built between the patient and their counselor and the consent of the doctor. This program cost around $378.00 a month or $94.50 a week. A lot of people spend that much on cigarettes and/or caffeine in a month but that’s not considered a problem. My question is, why are people so hard on Methadone patients for wanting to get off and give up the illegal drugs and substitute them for a legal, doctor prescribed, effective, affordable, alternative. I would like to also challenge anyone who has never been there (a drug addict) to try and walk in the shoes of one for a day. Try waking every morning and popping a pill or snorting a line or shooting up an Oxycontin for a month and try quitting “Cold Turkey”. If they succeed with no pain, no anguish no stress, no problems. Then I would respectfully shake their hand and admit that it was possible without help. Instead of criticizing people for trying to fix their problems help them. Get more of them involved in treatment. Get your community officials to look into opening a treatment program center near your neighborhood. I will guarantee you will see a dramatically large decrease in the abuse and crime rate. Look for the positive sides to everything. Methadone helps those who help themselves. Just like anything else there is going to be a few bad apples in the barrel. But you don’t throw them all away. You pick out the bad ones before they ruin it for the rest. I thank GOD everyday for Methadone treatment and if not for them I may not be here today.

Thank You and Good Luck,

Olive Hill male



NOTE: Those who are or have been addicted to drugs or have suffered loss due to the drug addiction of others are invited to send their story to

mhogan@journal-times.com fax to 474-0013 or 286-4201, or drop off at the Grayson or Olive Hill offices.

        

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