Northland men’s deaths inspire action on methadone
October 13, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Following the deaths of two Northland men, State Rep. Tom Huntley and State Sen. Roger Reinert say they want to hold hearings this fall to determine if more restrictions are needed on how methadone treatment is administered in Minnesota. Continue Reading
How is this different from a drunk driving accident? My tax $ isn’t being used to give people alcohol after they have already broken the law. That’s the difference.
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I agree Kerroz. Methadone is nothing more than legal herion. Along with that, she had 30 traffic violation, and admitts driving regularly. Then some people wonder why we don`t want those clinics and halfway houses anywhere near our neighborhoods? Time to stop handing this crap out, and make them go “cold turkey”.
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After reading the posts on this thread, I don’t delude myself that any hearts and minds will be changed here about methadone and methadone maintenance therapy (MMT). However, I will present the facts as to the impact MMT has had on my life. No doubt this will make some folks very unhappy, but it is what it is.
Thanks to MMT, I got my life back. My family got their daughter back. No more track marks, no more needles, no more unsavory characters/druggies/dealers lurking about, no more chronic financial desperation, no more stealing, no more risk of disease/overdose, no more insanity, no more tears.
Who do I hold responsible for my addiction? ME. I am 100% responsible for introducing drugs into my body, thus I am 100% responsible for my recovery. No “poor me” here. BUT, because my addiction is my fault, there are some of you that would have actually wished me dead when I was a junkie? And now? I believe that people deserve a chance to recover, and to find their way back. MMT gave me that chance, a chance to replace despair and desperation with hope.
There will always be people that fail at their treatment. They are unable or unwilling to receive the miracle of recovery. But those of us that have gotten our miracle, and those people that will receive the opportunity to get theirs, can we deny them that opportunity in good conscience?
God help any of you that has an addicted child. You would snatch a crumb from the Lord’s table if you thought it would save your child.
Thank you all for reading.
Grateful in Louisiana
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Every time there is a tragedy there is a new law. This one tragedy/one law rule has been in effect for 20 years,
We still have tragedies but now you can’t walk out your front door without breaking 5 laws.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Lindgren was a friend of mine and to read this makes me wanna puke! I want to know why they were going to Brainerd when the clinic in Duluth is closer! Possibly another clinic rule is not to check if they are going to more than one clinic? Hiow2 can bars be held liable under the dram shop law and these clinics can just let these people drive high? Why are they letting them take this home when they know for a fact they are abusing it (Injecting is not the proper way to use this drug) I say do away with this crap as a take home drug all together and only allow it to be used in a treatment facility and only for the period to get these scum cleaned up and on their way! I hope the state steps in and succeeds on doing something about this, as for the doper that killed my friend? I hope she reads this and is prepared to rot in jail!
RIP Lindgren10 we will sure miss you on the ice in a couple weeks!
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I am horrified by the fact that the methadone clinics lack higher levels of regulation. I agree with you that they should not be allowed to take home doses. The fact that they are not routinely checked for track marks makes absolutely no sense at all! It should be one of the first steps before providing a LIQUID easily injected medication to people who have past historys of drug abuse. Common sense, especially for the medical professionals over seeing these clinics. Another thought – the patients have to prove their trustworthiness – how the heck are they determing this?! Especially if they aren’t checking them for track marks, looking at recent criminal history, etc?! And with only a 5% success rate in the last 5 years, it seems pretty obvious that this form of treatment is not working. Our tax dollars need to be going towards something that will actually help people – not get them high or physically impaired for free. I am glad to see Huntly and Reinert pushing this issue, too bad it was not sooner.
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I feel sorry for the families involved in this, and this is such a tragedy. However, the news tribune keeps on focusing on the methadone issue with the person causing the accident. My question though is, why weren’t the victims wearing seatbelts? I’m still surprised to find that so many people do not wear seatbelts after so many studies illustrate that you are more likely to survive wearing them than not wearing them. So the question is, if another car went across the centerline and crashed with their vehicle, let’s say the driver had nothing related to methadone but was distracted or maybe had a heart attack, would the victims still survive…not wearing their seatbelts? I’m not saying that it isn’t the methadone addicts fault, it most certainly is, however, i’m just saying maybe if they were wearing their seatbelts in this accident and along with any number of other accident scenarios, they may have had a better chance of surviving. Don’t get me wrong, this is a tragic accident, but maybe we need to look at also educating people again about buckling up as well as closing down the methadone clinics.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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The reports said they were ejected, but I have yet to see a report that says they were not wearing seatbelts. Why is it that someone always has to shift the blame in a tragedy like this? Dig yourself a deeper hole there, Barry…stop making excuses for the idiots who killed those two fine young men.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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The star tribune originally stated they were not wearing seatbelts and it looks like the news tribune recently expanded their article to state so as well. I’m not trying to shift the blame, I’m just saying it’s also sad that they chose not to wear their seatbelts. I agree that the person hitting them is at fault and we should find ways to punish them for what they did where in my opinion to be blunt, probably rot in hell. However, I just wanted to point out that it’s disheartening that they chose not to wear their seatbelts and I was surprised that they didn’t in this day in age. So maybe the campaign to get people to wear seatbelts hasn’t worked as well and needs to be looked into more. I’m sure people will not like this statement because it appears to shift blame on the victims, which I’m NOT intending to do. I’m just saying that maybe we should also look into trying to encourage people to wear their seatbelts more as well, because this day in age, how are you to know what the other crazy drivers are on or doing (texting) this day in age while driving anyway.
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Shut them all down and we can deal with the repercussions! I am sick and tired of coddling and boohooing over these poor abused misunderstood drug using pieces of garbage. You could euthanize every last one of them as far as I’m concerned. Discussion over.
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David Anderson
Sad as it is sometimes laws are created after the facts, like drunk driving laws and others Such as the Katie Poiter kidnapping. Once its apparent there is a need for change I’m glad there are people at the top who will step up and swiftly take care of it. Sad as it is for everyone that knew these 2 fine young men they will be the example to hopefully set the law so this never happens again…
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Area 51
Yes, it did say in the initial DNT article/report that they were in fact not wearing their seat belts, also the county made the statement that they have a policy to wear them in their vehicles. However on a survey crew they may have only needed to go a yds not miles though its no excuse, we all have been guilty of the same thing. Its about the same as getting killed by a drunk driver while traveling store to store at mall.
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I will also guarantee along with her 3 hots and a cot, this waste of flesh is getting all of the methadone her little body desires while in jail, you know, because she’s a diagnosed patient. All on our dime, disgusting.
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Shame that this Woman was even given the opportunity to drive after what 30 counts? This is where I really desire capital punishment!
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Close all the Methadone centers in Minnesota. Addicts will simply move to where the supply is. Most have no jobs, and they can take their housing vouchers with them.
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Stephanie, you are a good advocate for your industry, but your opinion is skewed. The term disease to describe addiction is true that it is a disease that is behavioral in nature. To put addiction on par with leukemia is misleading. You simply cannot refer to methadone as a recovery option, because the way it is implemented does not facilitate recovery. How many find their doses steadily increasing, as their tolerance to methadone increases? You may be correct that the majority of abusers do not inject but it certainly does happen on a significant basis. How many abuse methadone and prescription klonopin and are not reported as a violation because they doctor-shopped for a prescription? How many use ER visits to have an excuse for a failed test? I’ve never seen an addict die from quitting cold-turkey, and I see it all the time. A person is at a higher risk of death after quitting alcohol or benzodiazepines such as ativan. In those cases withdrawal is monitored and treated before eventually hopefully being able to abstain and going through CD treatment. Get them through a few weeks, and they have just as good a chance to quit as a cigarette smoker. It is our anxiety we feel when they plead with you when they are withdrawing, that does not allow them to attain recovery. If you truly believe that opiate addicts cannot quit, I encourage you to look at your own codependency. When quitting smoking, the patch helps, but dont see smokers wearing them for the rest of their lives. The “quality of life” argument just doesnt cut it, as they are just slaves to a different drug. When something doesn’t work, why keep doing it?
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Apparently you are not aware that people more than not find an optimal dose and do not increase from that dose. I know people who have been on the same dose for 15 years and never increased. It does happen but not as much as you must be thinking. The tolerance is established during the induction period. To increase later down the road one must shown due cause, change in their circumstances. Some doctors might give someone who has been on their dose say five or six years a small 5 to 10 milligram increase because of menopause etc…but by far this hardly happens.
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Stephanie, as soon as you bring up knowing people on this drug for 15 years, your argument is lost.
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Wow, now they treat menopause with methadone increases? I read a study about the benefits of putting 3 year olds acting out on methamphetamine (methylphenidate, Adderall). Since it was in a study, does that make it a “proven fact” as well?
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“Addiction” is a farce. Use all the studies you want but the simple fact of the matter is that an inanimate object can and will never be anything more than that without outside influence. Chemical dependency is a PC term for people not willing to take responsibillty for THEIR actions, not those of an inanimate object. People need to accept the fact that they are CHOOSING to put chemicals in their system, they are NOT “vitims” or “addicts”. Other than a couple vaccinations I was forced to take to work at a hospital, there has NEVER and will NEVER be anything entered into my or anyone else’s body that wasn’t put there or allowed to be put there by our own doing. People need to take responsibillity for their actions and deal with the consequences like an adult, not blame something that is 100% incapable of making any type of decision or taking any type of action for itself. To think that a person who shows no abillity to make a consious effort to stop making bad decisions will somehow start because now they get free drugs is rediculous. Junkies are junkies until they CHOOSE to not be a junkie and stop taking the actions that make them a junkie. PERIOD.
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Spoken by a person who clearly doesn’t have the slightest idea what they’re talking about.
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Stephanie, you obviously have a dog in the fight, are you a nurse, counselor, addict? Your argument is the same old, tired, worn out argument I am so sick and tired of hearing I could spit. Why do you think it’s ok to waste all of these tax payer resources on people that contribute NOTHING positive to society? I’m done coddling and enabling these losers, the excuses are worn out on me. Pull up your big boy pants, have a little self respect and accountability and get off the crap! Cut them all off and we can lock them up when they start robbing, stealing and killing for their hit. On top of it all, this garbage doesn’t help anyone recover, it’s another farse on the tax payer.
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It is a well documented and proven fact that MMT reduces crime rates and disease. There is nothing to prove your theory….. As most MMT persons must be employed to remain on methadone they are tax paying too. But the largest percentage of clinics are self pay. I myself only know of one clinic within several hundred miles of me that accepts medicaid……… if that is what you are saying is your money…..furthermore….many patients are living their lives just as anyone else…working, attending family/social functions, paying taxes etc….this is a real misconception of people who are on MAT.
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I agree that massive improvements in methadone clinic regulation is needed. But let’s set aside our inappropriately strong conclusions about methadone therapy that we’ve based on a very incomplete understanding of the physiology, pharmacology, and social factors involved, and leave the treatment decisions to the scientists and healthcare professionals.
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