Thursday, May 27, 2010

It's Like A Self-Lobotomy!: Cut Off California's Methadone To Save Money!

I read about this wonderful, wonderful idea, and I thought: "There goes my low neighborhood crime rate! Nothing like releasing hundreds of heroin-obsessed wraiths in my immediate vicinity to generate that warm, fuzzy, safe feeling!":
It is a craving so powerful that addicts will do almost anything to satisfy it.

For thousands of people hooked on heroin and other opiates, a daily swallow of methadone tames the demon and opens the door to a normal life.

But soon the synthetic narcotic, which for decades has been used as a controversial treatment for addiction, no longer may be an option for thousands of Californians.

As part of the effort to dig the state out of its massive budget hole, the Schwarzenegger administration has proposed cutting off Medi-Cal funding for "methadone maintenance" and other treatment programs to most addicts, saving the state $53 million.

Advocates who believe that methadone saves lives and lowers crime committed by society's most hard-core addicts are vigorously protesting the proposed cuts. Today, former federal drug czar Barry McCaffrey and others will try to convince lawmakers that slashing the program would backfire on the state.

"Dumping tens of thousands of opiate addicts back on the street would be an immediate disaster to law enforcement, and to the families of people who have become stable, functioning adults" thanks to methadone, said McCaffrey, who has a consulting firm and serves on the board of directors of an organization that treats chemical dependency.
People just have no concept how many people are taking methadone here in Sacramento!

I remember back in, I think, 1999. Those were the days when the DMV parking lot behind my house still had low guardrails around it (removed because of this incident!)

A rather strange woman had moved in next door. Over the months, she kept trying to intrude and otherwise insinuate herself into my household. I learned that she had a family, that she had children, but she was forced to live separately from them. I suspected she might have drug problems.

One day, she fell down the outside steps of her apartment, and she sued her landlord. After awhile, she was evicted, and I stopped seeing her around.

Until one morning, a couple of months later, at four a.m. WHAM! There was an immense collision outside my bedroom window. I ran outside in my pajamas and saw that a car passing through the alley had driven end-on into one of the low guardrails. To my surprise, the evicted woman was at the wheel - rattled, but unhurt. She explained she had been heading from a donut shoppe on Broadway to a medical clinic on Florin Rd., and just happened to be passing through the back alley when she drove into the guardrail. I realized the back alley was not the most direct way from the donut shoppe to Florin Rd., and suspected she must have passed through the alley either out of emotional attachment to her former residence, out of habit, or some weird mix of the two.

Since her car was no longer drivable, we pushed it into a parking space. She asked me for a ride to her medical clinic appointment on Florin Rd. I assented. As we drove along and talked, she would sometimes lapse into a semi-conscious state. Her eyes would roll back in her head and she would start stuttering. I could see why the car accident had occurred.

We arrived at the Florin Rd. clinic about five a.m., and I was astonished. Florin Rd. was nearly empty, but there were at least a hundred people present at this one clinic, waiting impatiently in line. They were there for their methadone. Dozens more were arriving by the minute!

A lot of people in Sacramento take methadone, but since it's administered at odd times and places, you might not even know it!

Take away the methadone and you have an instant crime wave!

If we need to cut budgets, cut methadone last. Why not cut CALTRANS first? I mean, good grief!

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