Pubdate: Sun, 07 Aug 2016
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2016 The New York Times Company
Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/lettertoeditor.html
Website: http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n517/a07.html
Author: Leana S. Wen

TREATING HEROIN ADDICTS

Naloxone saves lives after a heroin overdose, but does it also 
encourage addiction?

To the Editor: Re "A Lifesaver for Heroin Users, but No Cure for an 
Epidemic" (news article, July 31):

As an emergency physician, I have personally administered naloxone 
and seen patients who would otherwise die from an opioid overdose be 
revived within seconds. Those who say that saving someone's life with 
naloxone will only foster addiction are being unscientific, inhumane 
and ill informed. We would never refuse an EpiPen to someone 
experiencing a peanut allergy for fear that it would encourage him to 
eat peanut butter. In Baltimore, we believe that naloxone should be 
part of everyone's medicine cabinet and everyone's first aid kit. 
That is why I issued a standing order that has made this medication 
available to all of the 620,000 residents in our city. We must make 
policy decisions based on science, not stigma. Addiction is a 
disease. We must treat it with the same urgency, humanity and 
compassion as we treat all diseases.

LEANA S. WEN

Baltimore

The writer is the Baltimore city health commissioner.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom