________________________________
Your Name
________________________________
Address
________________________________
City, State, Zip
Date____________________________
Honorable Senator ________________
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Senator _____________________:
On February 11, 1999 Senator McCain introduced S423 the Addiction Free
Treatment Act. This legislation was intended as a political assault
on the
Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and General (ret)
McCaffreys statement that methadone maintenance should be expanded.
Instead it was demeaning to thousands of current and former methadone
patients to have the personal bias can prejudice contained within read
on
the floor of the U. S. Senate. It was a demonstration of no regard
for the
harm caused to individuals who have struggled to regain their lives
from a
self promoting legislator.
Methadone maintenance has restored the lives of hundred of thousands
of
addicts once considered incorrigible and hopeless. The majority of
methadone patients have proven themselves capable and successful in
the
practical world, as lawyers and waitresses, construction workers and
housewives, teachers and cab drivers. Methadone maintenance is the
greatest
success story waiting to be told: restoring families and giving hope
to the
hopeless.
To not consult the vast wealth of scientific research is an affront
to the
American taxpayers who have paid for it. It is odd that a public
official
would not consult the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Center
for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) whose cutting edge research have
provided scientific evaluations that are utilized throughout the world.
Senate Bill 423 contains consistent bias, falsehoods and wishful thinking.
Legislation should be based on sound scientific analysis and facts
and not
reflect the hearsay of a self-adulator or ones personal bias. In
particular the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates takes offense
to:
(1) In Section 2 (5) the statement that methadone results in the transfer
of addiction is scientifically incorrect, blurs the true meaning of
addiction and is stigmatizing to methadone patients by equating them
to the
illicit addict. (2) Section 2 (6) equates heroin and Methadone Withdrawal
which is another serious error and the assumptions made about withdrawal
as
the primary treatment for addiction is wrong. (3) Section 2 (7)
will halt
several new effective chemotherapys and thus wasting research conducted
at
the taxpayers expense. This section if passed will place the United
States
back into the 1950s when abstinence was the only treatment for opiate
addiction and a failure as over 90% would relapse. (4) Sections 3 and
4
interferes with the ability of experts who have undergone years of
training
to treat addiction. Furthermore, many of the conditions set forth in
this
section are already guidelines within the program. Other statements
are
dangerous to the public health by discharging individuals who have
come for
help for their addiction, including pregnant addicts, the HIV/TB infected,
the mentally ill and the poly-addicted. (5) Section 5 will spend
duplicate
monies on research that is already being conducted to evaluate treatment
Methadone patients are heroes and their struggles to regain their lives
and
their families should not be diminished by legislation that is intended
to
harm and stigmatize. They have fought to regain their humanity against
difficult odds including prejudice and stigma and to belittle and demean
them on the floor of the U.S. Senate is contemptible..
It is unethical to use legislation as an instrument for self promotion.
NAMA opposes this legislation as an instrument of bias and prejudice
that
will create havoc to the lives of those who have been stable and productive
and destructive to those who need treatment now or may in the future.
We
ask that you support the ONDCP and General McCaffreys work to expand
methadone maintenance treatment so that it is available to all who
may need
it.
(Write your letter here)
Thank you, Respectfully.
_______________________________________
Your Signature