Clinics save lives: Recovering addict

Clinics save lives: Recovering addict

Local News
By COREY LAROCQUE, REVIEW STAFF WRITER
Updated 3 days ago


Methadone is a lifesaver for people hooked on painkillers like heroin or oxycontin, says a recovering addict who is hoping to start 2011 clean, and who questions the backlash that scuttled plans for a downtown clinic.

"It's going to open the door for people who are hopeless," said Bert, a 47-year-old Niagara Falls man who has been going undergoing methadone treatment for four years to break his addiction to prescription pills that began when he was in university.

As a recovering addict, he said he hopes this city can find a new location for a clinic to treat people addicted to opiate drugs after the doctors who originally planned to put one on Victoria Ave., bowed to a public backlash.

"It's a solution to a horrible problem we've got out there," said Bert, an "outdoors worker" who agreed to tell The Review his history of drug addiction on the condition his last name and where he works isn't published.

Dr. Robert Fallis told The Review this week he and his partners are abandoning their plan for a treatment clinic that touched off a controversy because they wanted to put it across the street from St. Patrick Catholic elementary school.

School board director John Crocco said it's a valuable service, but shouldn't be across the street from a school.

Coun. Jim Didoati called the location "inappropriate."

Mayor Ted Salci said if it was near a hospital it wouldn't be a problem.

Council is scheduled to vote on a resolution Monday calling on Ontario's Ministry of Health to bring in legislation requiring doctors to consult with the community before setting up a drug-treatment clinic.

The mayor suggested Fallis attend that meeting to speak on the issue.

Fallis is one of three partners in the Segue clinics in St. Catharines and Welland which use prescription drug suboxone to break their patients' addictions to heroin, oxycontin and morphine.

"Basically, I credit the Segue clinic, Dr. Fallis and the methadone program with, if not saving my life, at least saving my job, my family and my house," said Bert,

Instead of treating addicts, Fallis will open an occupational health clinic.

Bert got hooked on painkillers, including percocet and oxycontin, after they were prescribed to him following an injury in the early 1980s while he was a university student.

When the prescribing doctor cut off the prescription, Bert turned to the street to get the drugs.

"I was in the pit of despair. I saw the things I was doing to my family," Bert said, adding he wasn't suicidal, but harboured dangerous thoughts.

About four years ago, he started methadone treatment at Fallis' St. Catharines clinic. He started out taking 160 milligrams of methadone each treatment. He's down to six now. He said he's hoping to be weaned off it altogether in the new year.

Doctors use methadone and suboxone to get people off narcotics. They prevent an addict from getting a high, they kill the craving for illicit drugs and repair the damage caused by drug abuse.

The treatment stabilizes patients so they can get their old lives back and so other issues -- criminal activity, depression, homelessness -- can be addressed.

But patients gradually have to be weaned off the treatment, too.

The idea of a clinic across from a school became controversial because parents were worried needle-using addicts who might be desperate for cash would wander the neighbourhood.

Fallis said it's a false perception because most people who seek treatment are hooked on pills.

Bert said the people who go to clinics are like him, locked in addiction, trying to get hold of it before they lose their jobs, their families or their lives.

"All drug addicts aren't bad. They're good people who made bad choices," Bert said. "This is a lot more prevalent than you think."

Once patients are being treated, they're stable, so they wouldn't pose a risk to others. If anything, getting people off illicit drugs and onto methadone or suboxone might reduce crime, Bert said. "It's not like you're all messed up when you're walking around on this stuff."

Methadone gave Bert what he called "clarity of mind" to get his life in order.

There is a clinic on Drummond Rd., but it It would be helpful for Niagara Falls to have another one -- even if it's not on Victoria Ave., Bert said.

When people are hooked and realize they want help, there's a narrow window of opportunity. The difference between having a clinic in their own city and having to scrape up money for a bus or taxi could be the difference between getting treatment and not getting it, Bert said


This came from the Niagra Fall Review and the original link to the article is

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2781543

They are focusing in the wrong direction.

If people would focus where (at least partially) a great part of opiate addiction occurs there wouldn't be this controversy.

As a recovering pill addict I have found that physicians out there will prescribe pain pills without a second glance. Need more oxycontin/vicodin/oxycodone ? ...... sure, have an increase, take your script, and go on your merry way. I'm sure others here have come across the same thing. What do they expect from a society that hands out pain pills like candy?

But if you become addicted .... wow, you are the scum of the earth.

There is no doubt that replacement therapy is a no brainer for heroin addicts. It saves lives.

It is the same for those of us who have been in chronic pain due to injuries.

It's time that the general public wakes up. The use of pain medication is epidemic. They need to start looking for the source of the problem rather than piling the heap of blame on people who simply want to make their lives better.