On Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 4:10:27 PM UTC-8, Greg Carr wrote:   
   > A UBC doctor says a pilot project to hand out pure drugs in a bid to   
   > curb overdose deaths in British Columbia comes with its own risks.   
   >   
   > The B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BC CDC) is looking at dispensing   
   > hydromorphone pills, better known as dilaudid, to registered users who   
   > could take them home and swallow, snort or inject them.   
   >   
   > The drug is a pharmaceutical-grade opioid five times as strong as   
   > morphine.   
      
   [snip]   
      
   > ==================================================   
   > This project is foolhardy.   
      
   Take your free anti-psychotic medications and get back into your cave, Carr.   
   If the taxpayers can afford to look after the likes of you, then they   
   certainly owe a better life to those who can be better citizens than you've   
   been for this country.   
      
      
   That's what they said about Methadone back in the in the year 2000.  Now the   
   results are proven and verifiable:   
      
   What are the benefits of methadone maintenance treatment?   
      
   Although there are some side effects associated with the use of methadone--as   
   there can be with any medication--there are many good reasons to provide   
   people who are dependent on opioids with access to methadone maintenance   
   treatment.   
      
   Research indicates that methadone maintenance treatment is effective in   
   reducing:   
      
       the use of other opioids;   
       the use of other substances, e.g. cocaine;   
       criminal activity;   
       mortality;   
       injection-related risk behaviours;   
       other risk behaviours for transmission of HIV and STDs; and   
       transmission of HIV (and potentially the transmission of HCV and other   
   blood-borne pathogens).   
      
   Methadone maintenance treatment has also been found to improve:   
      
       physical and mental health;   
       social functioning;   
       quality of life; and   
       pregnancy outcomes.   
      
   Methadone maintenance treatment is associated with increased retention in   
   treatment.   
      
   Methadone maintenance treatment has the potential to benefit, not only people   
   receiving treatment, but also those who are involved in delivering treatment,   
   as well as the wider community and society as a whole.   
      
   For people who are dependent on opioids, methadone maintenance treatment   
   provides access to a stable supply of a legal, pharmaceutical grade   
   medication. As a result, people receiving treatment achieve respite from the   
   stress of maintaining a constant    
   supply of illicit opioids often involving criminal activities and high risk   
   sexual practices. Rather than experiencing a constant cycle of highs and   
   lows--as the result of repeated injections of heroin, for example--their mood   
   and functional state become    
   stabilized. Overall, research indicates that people receiving methadone   
   maintenance treatment will:   
      
       spend less time using narcotics daily;Footnote 12   
       reduce their use of illicitly obtained opioids (and continue this pattern   
   as long as they stay in treatment);Footnote 13   
       reduce their use of other substances including cocaine, marijuana and   
   alcohol;Footnote 14   
       spend less time dealing drugs;Footnote 15   
       spend less time involved in criminal activities;Footnote 16   
       spend less time incarcerated;Footnote 17   
       have much lower death rates than individuals who are dependent on opioids   
   and not receiving treatment (the death rate for those not receiving treatment   
   is more than three times higher than for those engaged in treatment);Footnote   
   18   
       reduce injectingFootnote 19, and injection related risk beha   
   iours;Footnote 20   
       reduce other risk behaviours for transmission of HIV and STDs;Footnote 21   
       reduce their risk of acquiring HIV infection;Footnote 22   
       potentially reduce their risk of acquiring HCVFootnote 23 or other   
   blood-borne pathogens;   
       improve their physical and mental health;Footnote 24   
       improve their social functioning;Footnote 25   
       increase their likelihood of being employed full-time;Footnote 26 and   
       improve their quality of life.Footnote 27   
      
   For pregnant women who are dependent on opioids, receiving methadone   
   maintenance treatment, combined with adequate prenatal care, decreases   
   obstetrical and fetal complications.Footnote 28 Methadone protects the fetus   
   from erratic opioid levels and    
   frequent opioid withdrawal symptoms, which are common among pregnant women who   
   do not receive treatment for their opioid dependence.Footnote 29   
      
   The longer people who are dependent on opioids remain in methadone maintenance   
   treatment, the more likely they are to remain crime-free, to avoid injecting,   
   and to reduce their use of heroin.Footnote 30   
      
   For practitioners involved in treatment delivery, methadone maintenance   
   treatment is an opportunity to:   
      
       provide an important component of medical and public health care;   
       develop partnerships and linkages with other service providers and provide   
   clients/patients with a range of services and supports;   
       establish positive, supportive therapeutic relationships with--and learn   
   from--people who are dependent on opioids; and   
       contribute to an educational and therapeutic process that can lead people   
   who are dependent on opioids to gain a new perspective on themselves and their   
   use of drugs, and make changes in their lives.   
      
   For the wider community, the potential benefits of methadone maintenance   
   treatment include:   
      
       reduced drug-related criminal activity;   
       reduced prostitution; and   
       reduced numbers of discarded used needles in the community.   
      
   For society as a whole, methadone maintenance treatment may result in:   
      
       reduced crime; and   
       decreased public health risks.   
      
   Cost benefits   
      
   Given the costs of untreated opioid dependence, methadone maintenance   
   treatment offers significant benefits to society, which far outweigh the costs   
   of providing treatment. American researchers have found:   
      
       the annual costs of methadone maintenance treatment are much lower than   
   the annual costs of either untreated heroin use, incarceration or drug-free   
   treatment programs;Footnote 31   
       criminal activities related to heroin use resulted in social costs that   
   were four times higher than the cost of methadone maintenance tr   
   atment;Footnote 32   
       for every dollar spent on methadone maintenance treatment there is a   
   savings to the community of between US$4-$13.Footnote 33   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)