ch 19, 1993 Jther Editorials & Opinions 11 innie Becomes A Shock Trooper In War On Legal Drug! .C.’s methadone maintenance programs reatened by tabloid’s shock tactics Mark S. Foster Vancouver's local tabloid has sationalized yet another popular cause, exciting, angering d misleading its budget conscious aders. Recently the Province blished several articles and pondent letters concerning B.C.’s pti adone maintenance programs. The first, February 28th, tured a “screamer” headline iming, in effect, that many heroin dicts seeking medical help in aling with their addiction, only t that medical help to help e the high costs of their illicit rcouc The other two articles seemed pent only one point of view, an anti-methadone Sahinasies viewpoint. What lows is information and another ive for readers to examine out methadone maintenance pDeTrams. The first article (February 28) ims thataccording to Dr. Douglas aham, an expert in the addictions id, mostmethadonerecipients sell their prescriptions for cashneeded to su illegal narcotic highs. Many ers of the Province articles may cane assumed that funds are being wasted onj ' illicit highs. The vast majority of people benefiting from methadone maintenance were long term heroin dicts before all supported their their lbcit babats by by narcotics trafficking, prostitution, welfare Sarg tamer of thar tectoatien illegal activities. As fe aoe law a averages supports, many were caught on numerous occasions. Imagine the cost the public pays for all those police in arrests and im, cost of keeping one inmate in a federal tentiary or provincial jail for one son, rene el terre oe one addict, even a poor one, on methadone maintenance for a year. Methadone recipients who are employed pay the cost themselves. The cost of treating the many 870° Gor Sek cope cl ommencpitive: numerous drug- iuediicuaioe hospitalizations, surgeries and other treatments is beyond the imagination. Dirty drugs make people sick. Methadone, despite its in afer Sactening methadone maintenance. Active heroin addicts rarel y have good reports about their that take place in a life, even a recovering junkie’s life, are well worth the cost. For example, methadone tients are to i ane Suh teks ponent’ They wil probably begin to look and conduct themselves as a well adjusted, “normal” adults. Career-oriented schooling or steady work are often among the positive effects of methadone maintenance. Most addicts on the methadone maintenance program begin to their rent and spend maculae eries and other common health woes (AIDS is only one necessities rather than illegal dru possibility) that arise from active They usually become physicall physically Bt heroinaddictionisastronomical. The Becladetepe taceactenicenditear hange, Changes & The Weather edicated to the young man and woman 0 gave a Robson Street panhandler $100 e Monday evening in March Mark S. Foster It’s a bug, a virus, this writing g- Not everyone catches it, but en you're one who does you finitely know it! Theskyisgray today, nosunas as the eyecansee. That's far. I’m ing near the Haywood dstand, just above English Bay tach. There’s not much marine ffic out there, only half a dozen, pybe eight freighters moored in e harbor. There’s not much pedestrian auto traffic either. It was raini avily earlier, but that’s s Ihadn’t planned my stop here day. In fact, I hadn't planned Sdicextortccay: lcethe bya tear tra bucks and decided that since! id already ended up close to the ach, I should visit it. With beers, turally. I haven’t been here since last immer. A friend and Icamedown re one August night after seeing ic Instinct. We tried to enjoy ice pam cones thatcost more thanour pvie admission, and we people- atched. Back where I’m from it’s mid- iter today, really nasty weather! t I’m here, not there, and the ba ee soggy as it is, is fine with gray scene before me is Noteventhe sparse ch Avenueannoys fotraficon My six pack is warm, but so at? It’sasix pack] hadn’tplanned having. Callit a gift. To pm down I'll poke an extra hole thm pesibcy trusty P-38. I still carry the can opener on my key It’s a ealy in situations like s...you can take the boy off the eet, but you can’t take the street the boy. I’m writing with a pen, a actice the keyboard world of ndent life has deprived me for a long, long time. It’ll be hell ta entering this ibble...remember thatif you enjoy Piece. Itain’tall funand games. Someday I'd like to do this for living Well, not exactly this. The ing part. enI started (read: restarted) ool a little over a year ago, after seventeen year absence from ee rt xploitation and victimization ha academia, my plans were toenter the CSSW (Community Social Service Lapel oes oday,a typically waiting list later, I don’t think so. I think I’ve changed my mind. My decision may leave me somewhat poverty stricken..but it will also leave me fulfilled. I think. That doesn’t mean helping others is I try to write with social co! . I hope most of my pieces convey that social consciousness. I also hope that my writing helps to right some of the innumerablesocial wrongs thatmost of us witness daily...or weignore but know all about. I was down on skid row this — for an appoir. ment. I w often the people living, sainacoratenec an baatel view in the course of the year? How often do those suffering, poverty, addiction or cultural deterioration havethe money, time, desireorability to see the scenic end of their city? Itis their city too, youknow. But j life is quite different down on skid row. Exploited by greedy slumlords, become a way of life for too many citizens, fellow Citizen. Most prostitutes are not prostitutes by choice. Most addicts and alcoholics are not addicts and are not street kids by choice. Most unfortunates are not unfortunate by choice. Despite any previous Spare your change, do some volunteer sel toss a few cans in any food bank box...Begrateful you’refortunateand reach out to those who are not. By all means, ignore ChangeFor The Better! Seventy-five Things People Tried To Sell Me During Two Weeks On Vancouver's Streets by Mark S. Foster Recently I’ve beenspending lots of time on Vancouver's streets, especially in the downtown area. soos related issues I spent my time with the brothersand sisters wholivethestreet life. I had all sorts of i good and bad. Some were extremely...extraordinary? For instance, there wasthe woman to sell me stolen toilet paper and the man trying to sell me a i woman. I’ve listed some the merchandise available to the ee eee ere stolen ci clock radios stereos valium hash and thi man Srestomnneedaiate,eeoactine ees importantly, despite the and temptations, Godt. not sell their methadone prescriptions. The logic of addiction supports this fact. Addicts need their dosage. Shane McCune in his Citizen Shane columns hit the nail right on the head twice. March Ist he told the story of Montreal’s ill fated methadone maintenance programs...yet another narcotics story in which the powers that be accidentally found a “cure” worse than the problem. Hetells thestory of Montreal’s methadone woes. Montreal may not have needed methadone maintenance in the early 1970's. The opposite is certainly true today! Montreal’s decision to make methadone widely available, and its su i ing of restrictions ee eee heroin trade Montreal Methadone, although an imperfect solution, may help save lives. supports today. Asis becoming more and more evident every day, the more controls the authorities im on narcotics use, InhisMarch3Provincecolumn, grow. harmony monopoly, Citizen Shane suggested that many methadonemaintenance patientsare afraid, afraid that the negative blicity surrounding the publicly ded” methadone maintenance programs may lead to cutbacks. He is quite right in his assumption. If budget or quota cuts occur, patients already benefiting from methadonemaintenance may be“cut off.” But even worse, the program may not reach those who truly need ittorepair livesshattered by narcotics addiction. Unlike Montreal before it created its own heroin problem accidentally, Vancouver is already a city rife with high quality, low cost heroin. Methadone may not be the best answer, but it is presently the only available solution. Whileconstantly addressing the costs of methadone maintenance, it is interesting thatthearticles failed to mention that the mostexpensive part of a daily methadone maintenance regimen is the seven dollar (average) dispensing fee that pharmacists for each bottle of Tang and methadone solution that they pass over the counter. Where is the tive publicity s the phar ‘3 the.. extraordinary profits they reap from ...continued on page 12 i fs joel nN i Sw VE CULL THI PAIR STARS. NOW Wi | Cul yours! AMA arr shampoo, cut and style $19.95 i roduct nia Na College Students CT i Notare Hair Products just in from Los Angeles i acncan 9:00am to 5:00pm ON ROR sTT Hey! Our hours can change to meet yours! ACSA gL) Rai aue cures cata ueT Sth meee ett) Be street from rane nash: