Pubdate: Sun, 13 Mar 2005
Source: Kingsport Times-News (TN)
Copyright: 2005 Kingsport Publishing Corporation
Contact: 
http://gotricities.net/domains/timesnews.net/lettertoEditor.dna?action=new
Website: http://www.timesnews.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1437
Author: Wayne Ramey
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)

METHADONE TURNED LIFE AROUND

I am a recovering addict with three years clean. With the help of my 
medication, I have been able to put my life back together. I was addicted 
to pain meds. I was crushed in a roof fall in a coal mine in 1999 and 
became addicted to OxyContin. It was the worst hell I had ever been through.

In December 2001 I called the ambulance to take me to the emergency room 
where I got help to get into a drug rehab center. There is where I got the 
help I needed. I had made up my mind not to take methadone, but after 23 
days of pain from the roof fall that broke both my hips and back, I started 
methadone treatment. In two weeks I was walking without using a cane.

It has been over three years now, and I am so grateful to LCG at Tazewell. 
I have seen a lot of people there who are living better lives because they 
are in treatment with methadone. If your son or daughter was a drug addict, 
wouldn't you want them to take a medication rather than stick a needle in 
their arm every chance they got? For those suffering, I pray they can find 
the help they need without driving 200 miles a day.

Wayne Ramey

St. Charles, Va.
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