Doctors support methadone treatment

Doctors support methadone treatment

taken from the Petersburg Examiner website at http://www.peterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1756266


Three methadone doctors tackled the complex subject of opioid use, addiction and methadone during a presentation at the Downtown Business Improvement Area’s monthly breakfast meeting yesterday.

Doctors Sheena Smith, Alan Konyer and Chris Sankey each spoke about the problems associated with addiction, how methadone treatment works and it’s success compared to other forms of addiction treatment.

Smith works with the ACT clinic, Konyer with the Ontario Addiction Treatment Centre and Sankey is the medical director of the First Step Clinic.

Opioid is a blanket term describing any natural or synthetic medication that binds to opioid receptors in the central nervous system.

Many pain medications, including OxyContin, methadone and morphine, are opioids.

City police have said that opioids are replacing crack as the drug of choice on city streets.
In order to acquire a drug and form an addiction, people once had to visit the seedier sections of town, Sankey said.

“Now you don’t, you just go to your doctor,” Sankey said.

Addiction is a complicated disease, said Smith.

Addiction is both a physical and mental condition, she said. A person builds up a tolerance to opioids, and eventually becomes dependent on them.

One pill can cost $30 to $40 on the streets, Smith said.
One pill isn’t enough, some need four to 10 a day,” she said.

Some begin committing crimes to feed the addiction, she said, shoplifting and committing break and enters.

When someone tries to stop, he or she goes into withdrawal, Smith said, experiencing symptoms like sweating, vomiting, extreme muscle aches, goose bumps, nausea and mood swings.
Many patients who visit clinics have suffered abuse, neglect or sexual exploitation, she said, and poverty is a big factor in addiction.

“Clean and sober” is only one part of addiction recovery, Konyer said.

Methadone maintenance therapy involves counselling and social advocacy, he said.
“We try to get people plugged back into supports in the community.”

Methadone is handed out in low doses and alleviates any cravings or withdrawal symptoms someone may have, he said.

It doesn’t make you high or drowsy, he said, and a person using methadone can function normally and perform complex skills.

Opioid addiction comes with a very high mortality rate, Sankey said, and can lead to increased rates of hepatitis C and HIV when users use needles to inject it.

The Peterborough County-City Health Unit has the fifth highest rate of hepatitis C rates out of 36 health units, he said.

There are four methadone treatment clinics in the city and there are 819 people registered as receiving methadone treatment.

Sankey stressed that these clinics are needed, and that Peterborough is serving its citizens better than some communities.
sdeeth@peterboroughexaminer.com