Could Drug Rehab Have Prevented Another Methadone Death?
Another methadone incident - a man charged with involuntary manslaughter after his 2-year-old son died after drinking methadone. The man left his kids alone in the bathroom with an open bottle of methadone. The story doesn’t say why the guy had the methadone, but if he was an addict - rather than someone who had methadone in the house temporarily as a pain reliever - let’s hope he now tries to get into drug rehab.
We gets lots of comments on our blogs about methadone. Many are from parents whose children died from it one way or another, and others are from former heroin addicts who have traded their addiction to heroin for an addiction to methadone. They have been told that their bodies don’t produce enough endorphins and that they therefore can’t really live any kind of normal life without opiates. That’s also the reason they’ve been told drug rehab didn’t work for them.
I’ve asked methadone users for specific information on the testing they had done to prove that their bodies were incapable of producing endorphins, but I’ve never been given any evidence that testing like that has even been done. It appears to be an assumption.
In any case, we now have another tragic incident of methadone-related death. A drug rehab program is still a safer solution.
drug rehab, drug rehab program, methadone deathPopularity: 12% [?]
There is no “specific testing” done to show schizophrenia, depression, or many other types of mental illness that involve chemical imbalances in the brain (other than CT scans, which have been done in many cases–see the HBO special, “addiction”). The diagnosis is made not on “assumption” as you say, but based on behavioral patterns, history of response to opiates-abuse-relapse, and response to medication assisted treatment. They don’t do blood work and say “You are depressed–your lab work shows it”. Does that mean the diagnosis of depression is just “an assumption”, and that no one is really depressed? They just think they are because they have been told it is so?
This man exposing his child to methadone has absolutely NOTHING to do with methadone treatment and everything to do with parental negligence. Children die every day from ingesting household cleansers, tobacco, alcohol, iron tablets, vitamins, heart pills, etc. If a child died because her parent foolishly left their heart pills out on a table, would you blame the drug? Would you say “maybe NOW this person will finally learn that they should get off these heart pills!” What a ridiculous connection to make–child ingests medication negligently left out by parent–i.e., parent must not need medication, nor must anyone else need that medication.
Comment by Zenith — May 10, 2008 @ 6:06 am
And by the way–how is it that a drug rehab program is still a safer solution when the success rates of such programs fall far below the success rate of methadone treatment?
Comment by Zenith — May 10, 2008 @ 6:07 am
Although there is no specific “test” for opiate addiction, there IS mountains of evidence that drug addiction causes a chemical malfunction in the brain. Opiate addiction has the added bonus of messing with the addicts “happy” chemicals, rendering them useless in the addicts brain.
To say that opiate addiction doesn’t cause a chemical pathway disease of the brain AND endocrine function in this day in age is like saying “the earth is flat!” despite all the pictures from space showing us its round!
Comment by labrat — May 10, 2008 @ 10:46 am
Wow, what pure ignorance is displayed in this mess of a blog. Methadone saves thousands of lives. It helps prevent the spread of HIV, Hep C, and other diseases. It does so much good in people’s lives, and still people look to seek the negative. I agree it’s horrible that this child died, but to connect it to the methadone itself and not the negligent, irresponsible parent, is absurd. Then to continue the unrelated connections, you talk about the Parent’s that have lost their children Methadone who post frequently. And although I feel for these parents, if their son’s and daughter’s had taken their doses properly, meaning, it was 1. Their Prescription, 2. They didn’t take more than prescribed, 3. They didn’t mix it with other Medications, such as Benzodiazapines, Then the majority of them would still be here. Now I’m left paying the consequences due to their children’s mistakes. It sounds like a cold thing to say, and like I said I’m sorry for anyone that has to lose their life over a mistake, but I shouldn’t have to pay for them. Groups like Harmd, are toxic, they promote a toxic cause. They are killing more than they are saving. It’s time for them to open their eyes. So many addicts who could benefit from Methadone Maintenance will never get the opportunity due to un-reasonably strict laws and regulations, that harmd tries to get put into effect.
Then you post stories like these, which helps contribute to the stigma. I never hear of the positive stories that come from Methadone. Believe me there are thousands. I’ve witnessed plenty of them myself. How come that is? Bottom Line, the Methadone isn’t to blame in this tragic story, the negligence of the parents are. This Child could have gotten into their cleaning solution, or their Mice Poison they had left out of the cupboard.
Besides the story, you made sure to mention how you wanted to see papers that people have permanent brain damage, why don’t you research it? You obviously are extremely ignorant. MMT saves thousands of Lives. That’s what matters, besides no one owes YOU an explanation on why they are on MMT as longs as it works them. It’s one of the most successful treatments out there for opiate addiction. The more people try to make it more un-accessible with, the more likely your children will grow up in this Heroin Epidemic. There will be more Diseases out there, More Crime, and More likely your own child gets introtuced to opiates. Doesn’t matter if you live in white suburbia or the inner city. It’s everywhere. Who knows, the dealer that potentially could sell to your children might have tried to get on the MMT, but couldn’t because he didn’t have a ride on Sundays, now he’s selling heroin to your child to support his own habit…….Oh, but, wait,.. that will never happen to your kid, right?
Comment by Emily85 — May 11, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
So, he would have been better by leaving either his heroin, or his prescription pain medicine around for the kids to find? Of course not. That is absurd. So is saying he should have just gone to rehab. Accidents happen. I do believe the dad should be held culpable, but accidents happen. The child could have just as well grabbed a bottle of NyQuil to drink. The dad should be held responsible because the methadone is dispensed only to someone with a box that has a lock on it. If he left it out of that box and it was open then he certainly should be held responsible. But to say he should have done rehab instead and it would have prevented this is a crock. Drug Rehab is only the end-all to cure-all for someone who has never struggled with addiction. But for those who are in the grips of addiction, it isn’t a cure-all all of the time. Believe it or not, Drug Rehab doesn’t work for some. *GASP* I know…unbelievable. It is apalling that you say he traded one addiction for another. Addiction and dependence are two different things. An addict will lie, cheat, and steal to get their fix. Then once that fix is gone, they are planning what to steal, who to cheat, and what lies they will tell to get the next one. A dependent Methadone patient knows that they need a set amount, around $10 everyday to stay healthy and clean. Methadone patients are held to strict regulations and standards. One of them is taking it home in a locked box. If this father disregarded this rule, then by all means he needs to be held responsible for his son’s death. But to say all of the other things you did because this parent was irresponsible is just insane. You mention these parents who post that have lost their children to methadone. Do those parents post the entire circumstances of their poor child’s demise? I think not. Most aren’t as willing to say that their child either illegally purchased the methadone in the first place, OR that they took it in combination with a list of drugs that we are warned from day one not to take in combination with methadone, OR that in their addict behavior of constantly seeking a buzz, they took more than their prescribed dose. They don’t mention that do they? They just make it appear as if Methadone is the boogey-man that jumps out of the bushes and smothers and kills their poor, unknowing children. Give me a break. Just as this dad should be held responsible, so should those poor poor overdose victims. They are victims alright, but not of someone elses irresponsible behavior, as the child in this article was, they are victims of their own behavior. I know, *GASP* again…
Comment by Enylear — May 14, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
The source of the idea of an endorphin deficiency isn’t methadone patients, in fact few clinics these days include this information in their literature, but rather a Mary Jeanne Kreek , MD – Professor and Head of the Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases, Rockefeller University, New York – Dr. Mary Jeanne Kreek, along with Marie Nyswander, MD, was an original member of Dr. Vincent Dole’s research team that developed MMT in 1964. It is they who introduced the “new” concept of opioid addiction being a metabolic disease of the brain. Dr. Kreek has an extensive volume of work that I encourage you to look into. For a brief introduction to her please see the link below. You can find much of her work online.
Methadone and Beyond:. Medication and its Role in Treating Addiction. Mary Jeanne Kreek, M.D.. The Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases …
PowerPoint Presentation File Format:
http://www.drugabuse.gov/pdf/blending/Kreek.pdf
Comment by Dione — May 18, 2008 @ 1:25 am