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Ways I Stay Sober Without AABy Beth Leipholtz 04/12/17There are many ways to recover from alcoholism without 12-step programs. Here’s how it’s worked for me.Four years ago, I got sober through an outpatient treatment program. The rehabilitation facility I went to followed the 12-step format and stressed the importance of AA meetings and a sponsor. In a way, I owe my sobriety to this form of treatment. I’m so grateful for it. For the first year or so of recovery, this is the format I followed because it was what I knew and it was what was working. But over time I found that I wasn’t necessarily comfortable at AA meetings. Part of it was the God talk, since I’m not necessarily religious, but it was more than that, too. The way sobriety was discussed just didn’t always click for me, and I found myself leaving meetings with a frustrated […]

Serving All Your Heroin NeedsBy SAM QUINONES APRIL 17, 2015FATAL heroin overdoses in America have almost tripled in three years. More than 8,250 people a year now die from heroin. At the same time, roughly double that number are dying from prescription opioid painkillers, which are molecularly similar. Heroin has become the fallback dope when an addict can’t afford, or find, pills. Total overdose deaths, most often from pills and heroin, now surpass traffic fatalities.If these deaths are the measure, we are arguably in the middle of our worst drug plague ever, apart from cigarettes and alcohol.And yet this is also our quietest drug plague. Strikingly little public violence accompanies it. This has muted public outrage. Meanwhile, the victims — mostly white, well-off and often young — are mourned in silence, because their parents are loath to talk publicly about how a cheerleader daughter hooked for dope, or their once-star […]

Along with sharp reductions in the reimbursement for methadone maintenance treatment, which may be the lowest in the nation, reduced assess to prescription opiates and increased availability of high-quality inexpensive heroin correlates to a four hundred percent increase in heroin overdose deaths from 2011 to 2012.  To make matters even worse, Maine has refused to accept Federal funding related to the affordable care act, according to this article in the January 15, 2014 edition of the Portland Press Herald.Fatal overdoses quadruple as heroin tightens grip on MaineStatistics for 2012 highlight a growing public danger, fueled in part by restrictions on prescription drugs, a cheaper supply, and possibly MaineCare cuts.By Eric Russell and David HenchStaff WritersThe number of deaths from heroin overdoses in Maine quadrupled from 2011 to 2012, according to statistics released Wednesday by the state’s attorney general and the chief medical examiner.Officials attributed the rise in part to regulations […]

This Governor gets it right… the War on Drugs is an abysmal failure in regard to heroin and opiates.  The lack of access and inadequate funding for medication-assisted treatment (methadone and others) has resulted in an escalation of heroin overdoses and untreated addiction.  These increases are associated with ever-increasing financial and human costs related to death, suffering, prosecution, and incarceration of the addicted.  PBS Newshour posted an interview of Gov. Shumlin of Vermont explaining his views on the issue.  Click the link to see the video or read the transcript, below.Vermont governor confronts deadly heroin crisis as public health problemGov. Peter Shumlin devoted his entire State of the State address to a “full-blown heroin crisis” ravaging Vermont. Shumlin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss his shift in focus on the issue of opiate addiction and Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post offers context on why heroin has made a major comeback […]

Hepatitis C is described as a “silent killer” estimated to have infected three to four million people in America and 150 million worldwide. This staggering number is three to five times greater than those infected with H.I.V. It’s called the silent killer because most people who are infected with the disease don’t know it since it can take many decades for it to show symptoms of silently destroying the liver. Many drugs have been created to kill the Hepatitis C virus but only about half of the people treated are cured – but with a promising new drug on the horizon, doctors, scientists, and patients are hopeful the number of patients cured will rise significantly.Most treatments for Hepatitis C are given by combining different medications to achieve the desired results but are not as effective as scientists would like. Though the one receiving much attention since it has been followed […]

Where does methadone come from?Methadone was created by chemists in Germany in WWII. Its intention was to take the place of the scarcely available morphine to work as a painkiller. It was offered as a pain medication for surgical and cancer patients in the U.S. in 1947. It was known as Dolophine at the time. In 1950, it was first used for short-term use to minimize withdrawal symptoms by addicts of heroin and morphine.How is it different than morphine?Morphine subdues pain for an average of 5-6 hours whereas methadone subdues pain for up to 24 hours.How should one take methadone if prescribed it for treatment?Methadone is most effective when taken orally and the effects last 24-36 hours – It is as strong as morphine.  Methadone (white or orange tablets) and methadone (liquid suspension) are equally effective at equal doses.  Only the “binder,” the “stuff” to which the active medication is […]

As of January 2013, the FDA is pushing to reschedule hydrocodone combination products from Schedule III to Schedule II, and this month plan to submit its formal recommendation package to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius. The FDA is confident that the National Institute on Drug Abuse will stand alongside them on this recommendation, which will in turn help the HHS submit its recommendation to the DEA to make the ultimate decision on rescheduling the prescription drugs. The American Pharmacists Association (APhA) is completely against the proposed recommendation by the FDA.The Association stated, “The APhA opposes FDA’s recommendation to reschedule hydrocodone to Schedule II because there is clear evidence that this change will reduce patient access to medications and cause harm—largely to patients living with chronic pain. Furthermore, rescheduling these medications will introduce inefficiencies and increase healthcare costs at a time when policymakers are […]

How does a patient get increases or decreases in their dosage?After intake, the nurse will assess the patient for two weeks to determine if increases or decreases are needed and then will get the order from the MD signed on what is the best course of action. Nurse/patient interaction continues daily to see how the patient feels. The methadone dosage should last 24 hours and be stable with no signs of cravings or withdrawals. Patients will not be given an increase in methadone dosage after any absence, on Saturdays, or before any holiday. CAP Medical Clinic recommends contacting nursing immediately if feeling drowsy but please note that the MD cannot be reached until after 7:30 am.When and why are patients given the breathalyzer reading?Patients are given a breathalyzer reading in 3 different circumstances: At intake, when there may be a concern that a patient has been drinking alcohol, and the […]

Opioid overdose deaths are on the rise. So much in fact that it is now the second-leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., behind motor vehicle accidents. Shocking? Yes. Can something be done to change this? Absolutely, but the treatment being used now, detoxification, is not working. More access is needed to methadone treatment to drastically reduce overall deaths caused by overdosing on opioids.The Medical News reported in their August 2013 issue that experts were calling for increased availability of medication-based treatments with methadone and buprenorphine to reduce addiction and overdose deaths from opioids and in no way support the “detox” treatment. In fact, they find detoxification to be extremely ineffective as can clearly be seen by opioid overdoses being the second-leading cause of accidental death now in North America.What’s more concerning is that people from every walk of life, including young people and children, are now abusing these […]

We’re bringing attention to a project that has been instrumental in fighting for respectful, science-based, and effective treatment for addiction to heroin and other opiates – The Medication Assisted Recovery Services (MARS) program.  Since 2005, MARS (a peer-initiated and peer-based recovery support project) has worked to inspire the transformation of medication-assisted treatment into medication-assisted recovery. The project was initiated by a group of methadone maintenance patients, as well as other individuals who play an essential role in the field of methadone maintenance. It is MARS’ mission to provide peer support services and training to the medication-assisted recovery community. They design, implement and evaluate selected peer-delivered recovery support services to complement existing treatment programs.MARS is different from other drug recovery and rehabilitation programs in that it focuses on training for peer-driven treatment. This means that support services and treatment suggestions are developed and provided by individuals (recovery coaches) who have firsthand […]