Pubdate: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 Source: Daily Herald (IL) Copyright: 2002 The Daily Herald Company Contact: http://www.dailyherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/107 NEW HOPE FOR BREAKING ADDICTION TO DRUGS Heroin takes hold of unhappy lives. And sometimes it doesn't let go until it takes those same lives. The Daily Herald has periodically published heart-wrenching stories of people who have suffered the agony of drug addiction, only to have the pain end with a deadly overdose. Yet, heroin does not have to be an invincible conqueror of life. There are cures, through treatment. And when help arrives, a new life can begin. We have seen that happen in instances where trouble with the law brings addicts before drug courts, such as the one in Kane County. There, a commitment to seeking a cure - under intense supervision and with the understanding that failure to follow a treatment plan is not an option - leads to the ability to overcome or control one's addiction. Yet treatment, for all its value, is hard to get. The federal Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that only 20 to 30 percent of the estimated 980,000 heroin abusers in the United States are in treatment programs, according to the Associated Press. One of the reasons those addicted to heroin find it difficult to get help is that it is hard for them to access a traditional treatment method - use of methadone. It is dispensed in drug abuse clinics. Many of these clinics are in city neighborhoods that are hard to get to, and where the crime rate is high. Addicts also don't feel they have much involvement in their treatment program through these clinics. So many of them simply don't get methadone. But a new program approved by Congress and endorsed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday promises to revolutionize drug treatment. Addicts can now be treated with new drugs - buprenorphine/naloxone and buprenorphine, sold as Suboxone and Subutex. The drugs help reduce opiate dependence, while having weaker narcotic effects than methadone. And unlike methadone, the drugs can be prescribed by a physician. This eliminates the need to visit a clinic and gives addicts the comfort of being treated in the privacy of their doctor's office. This should greatly expand access to treatment. At the same time, use of these drugs has to be carefully monitored. Although studies show the new drugs to be safe and effective treatment for opiate dependence, buprenorphiine has nonetheless been linked with some deaths. It also can be abused. Still, this new treatment policy not only has great potential from a medical standpoint, but adoption of it also reflects a changing attitude in the policymakers' approach to dealing with the nation's drug problem. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in Congress hope that introduction of the new drugs will allow addicts to be treated as patients, not criminals. A stronger emphasis on treatment, as an acceptable and productive weapon in the war on drugs, is encouraging. - --- MAP posted-by: Alex