Imagine — a young woman is in the Ladies Room stall, the Door is being
held open by a worker whose job it is to observe the woman (any female
patient) give a urine sample. This sample is tested for any drugs that
are against the rules of the methadon e clinic.
The young woman is balanced over the toilet in such a way for the attendant
to view the “urine stream.” Splash! A small bottle falls out of the woman’s
vagina into the toilet. She looks at the worker with tears welling up in
her eyes, “Are you going to tell the doctor?” “Honey, you better believe
I’m gonna tell someone, what do you think you are doing?” 
Think of the humiliation, of the desperation for the young woman to
even try such a thing. How many times had the poor suffering woman prepared
herself like this before, as it’s the rule for random urine takes! I can’t
get it out of my head. It’s so pitiful and so typical of the desperate
things an addict feels forced to do. What I see and how I feel, is this
woman went to the clinic to get help. Somehow, somewhere, something must
be wrong. If she was getting the right dose of methadone, if her c ounselor
was effective, if programs did not discharge patients for displaying symptoms
of their disease, this would not happen. Am I right? I feel that I am.
If the dose of methadone is adequate then the addict should not be having
“hunger” for a drug. Also, if the dose is correct then a person would not
be able to feel the effect of the illegal drug. It would be a waste of
money. The “high” is gone!
I bring this up as just part of a story, but to show that having one
clinic to treat addicts with methadone (300 patients) is for a city of
this size (Columbus, Ohio) not enough. Also, the human side of this sorry
story is the clinic that is here has been here for more than 15 years and
there are just a few employees that have been with the clinic from the
start. One could say “Bless them for their commitment” or, one could say
that they have become hard and uncaring — the environment of care has
go ne long ago. They seem to only be counting the days until they can retire
and get away from these disgusting and manipulative patients. It’s just
an awful situation here in Columbus. I don’t know how to bring help here
except like this, in writing to a nyone that might try to change things
here.
This is just one small picture. If anyone can offer ideas or help, there
are many here that would thank you.
Please keep this city in your thoughts. Remember, the patients that
are treated like they are less than human by the clinic, or the active
addicts who never have the chance to be treated badly by the clinic.
Editor’s Note: This column, “Remember Us!” will become a feature
of The Ombudsman to provide a vehicle of expression for the many oppressed
patients afraid to speak out. “Remember Us!” will tell their story.
J.W.
