ive just been on a drug course where the tutor said he believed the following offending ####, opinion please?

Dr who
#1. May 12th, 2009, at 5:04 PM.

cold Turkey is the best and can be done,when they get locked up they have to go cold Turkey and if they make it in two -three weeks the physical part is over and they have to work on the mental part of it then.

abfabmom1
#2. May 14th, 2009, at 8:33 AM.

I think that injecting his opinion into his curriculum is entirely inappropriate. He needs to be teaching known scientific facts, and perhaps interesting new theories, but not his personal opinion.

A heroine addiction doesn’t go away in two weeks. Nor does alcoholism. It’s a lifetime of working on it every day, no matter how you initially break the dependency.

milton b
#3. May 14th, 2009, at 9:18 AM.

he is very correct. i know

gardenana
#4. May 15th, 2009, at 1:45 AM.

If a person is an addict, there can be no such thing as cutting back. This goes for alcohol as well. There is a lot of controversy over replacing methadone for heroin, many feel it helps, others feel it is substituting one drug for another. Anytime anyone tries to quit, it is difficult. For alcohol and heroin especially, going to a medical detox center is the safest way to stop. BUT one must followup with continued treatment and learn behavior changes to stay away from their drug of choice in the future. Learning what triggers the addiction can be very helpful in learning to stop use. Hope this helps.

nyskiermom
#5. May 16th, 2009, at 12:01 PM.

This sort of information makes me insane!

Yes, theoretically a heroin addict could go cold turnkey for two weeks and be done with the physical withdrawal. Heroin withdrawal is not lethal in most instances. However, it is VERY painful and difficult. It won’t kill you, but you wish you were dead. Unless he’s walked a mile in those shoes, or held the hand and head of an addict in withdrawal, well, if he had done either of those things he wouldn’t be saying such rubbish.

Methadone, Suboxone, Buprenorphine all have their own problems, that is very true. But for some addicts it is the only way to make the break. They are far from useless as they eliminate the pain of physical withdrawal very effectively for most who use them.

Harm reduction is an important part of the whole drug prevention piece, to be sure. But once alcoholic, your choices are limited. You either continue drinking or stop drinking. Alcoholics can’t “cut down”, that’s not how the neurochemistry works.

This person is inexperienced or unqualified to be doing this job. You are right to be concerned.

J.R. Neuberger
#6. June 3rd, 2009, at 1:06 PM.

This “tutor” is uneducated, prejudiced and unethical injecting his aberrant opinions where science should rule.

And the actions of methadone and suboxone go far beyond their help with the initial withdrawal symptoms from opiods. What these medicines provide in the long-term is endorphin replacement therapy for the once addicted individual. This because long term opiate addiction produces in most a permanent damaging of the endorphin system–that which regulates feelings of well-being, satisfaction, joy and happiness. This imbalance is what drives the compulsion to use illicitly in the addict. With endorphins replaced compulsion is laid to rest and a normal existence can be had. There is voluminous scientific research behind what I say and data can be found on the National Institutes of Health website in the US, and also at http://www.lindesmith.com and http://www.methadone.org. So the comments of this “instructor” are those of a neaderthal who has learned nothing about addiction and the brain in the last 20 years. They should not be in a teaching position in a healthcare environment. Their comments only speak to their own prejudices against recovering people.
Kind regards,
J.R. Neuberger
National Alliance for Medication Assisted Recovery