More truths About Methadone

From an actual clean and sober addict comes this important email. Please read it and understand how evil this sham is.

Hello,

I did quite a bit of research into the history of methadone programs and I found some interesting stuff.

The first methadone "maintenance" program in the world started in Vancouver in 1963. Prior to this there were other programs for methadone "withdrawal" programs already in operation in other countries but no maintenance programs, some say the first was in New York, but my research shows the first was most likely here.

Good old doc Halliday (Dr. Robert Halliday) from Vancouver applied to Ottawa and received the okay to start a methadone withdrawal program in Vancouver, the first in Canada in 1959-60. True to the roots of harm reduction, he applied to Ottawa to change the program from a "withdrawal" program to a "maintenance" program within a year of getting the withdrawal program up and running.

It seems that once the good doctor had his foot in the door with the approval from Health Canada for his withdrawal program , he immediately started to push for the envelope for change to a maintenance program, which took abstinece as the priority, out of the concept. Harm reductions been alive here for a long time. eh, half a century now.

I know from personal experience, that years ago, if an addict on the program tested dirty for other drugs they were removed from the program after a couple fo dirty tests, now I ahve learned that after every screw up they just give them more methadone, they think the problem is just not enough methadone. It has morphed into one of the worst of all harm reduction initiatives and it is more liberally applied here than almost anywhere else.

From a clean and sober heroin addicts perpective, it is the wost of all drugs. Coming off heroin is like a mild to mid range flu for 4-5 days, coming off methadone is excruciating pain for up to a month in most cases, even walking is very painful, the only thing to cause the pain to dimish is lots of hot baths. Methadone gets in the bones and detox is the worst of any drug, if you will notice how crippled and broken and hunched over addicts are on the DTES, they are mostly the ones who have been on methadone for years.

Now we see if the paper what I have known for years, but you get the watered down story, girls have told me about sexual favours for methadone and guys fencing hot good for there methadone, it is an evil empire, that harm reduction, junkie industry. 54 million is just for the drugs and dispensing fees, that's just the tip of the proverbial ice-berg, the regular doctors visits just to check in with the doc to keep the free legal dope coming and, overdose call outs from poly-use including methadone interactions and on and on.

Also, those on methadone are considered medically sick so they quailfy for almost a thousand bucks as month on the dole as they are considered eligible for welfare disabilty, I know of people who have went on the program just for the, almost double, welfare rates.

The real sad story is the doctors are putting non addicts on it now for long term pain relief for chronic pain, you will hear real horror stories about this in the not too distant future.

Hopefully the talking heads in Ottawa and Victoria will see the light, I hold out hope for Ottawa, but not so much for Victoria and absolutely none for the city of Vancouver.

Barry

PS The new community court isn't so new, they are doing almost exactly the same thing they did when they tried to adopt the "Drug Court Program" from the states in 2001. Predictably they will once again take a program that has had success south of the border and bring it here and put their "professional" harm reduction twist on it and render it ineffective, just as they did with the drug court thing.

Whats wrong with throwing them in jail like they do other criminals, thats the only way many of us got straight long enough to take a sober look at our life and find the desire to change. All this harm seduction, enabling, caretaking and mollycoddling is the exact opposite of what addicts need.

I was on the community consultation committe for the drug court when it started up in 2001, I was pretty hopeful and excited at first, like some are now for the new community court but I quickly lost hope as it's all based on harm promotion.. I mean reduction. Maybe Justice Gove will see through the b.s., I don't know

---

My Weekend

and well into Monday...

The Methadone Scandals

In an excellent follow-up to the Courier's expose of methadone, the Province this morning ells us even more.

Today's piece by Susan Lazaruk is headlined:

Methadone kickbacks investigated

At least one pharmacy allegedly gave cash to addicts for prescriptions

None of that surprises me, but I must admit I was shocked to read that this province, which spends next to nothing on treatment, spends $54 Million a year of your taxpayer money on giving this synthetic drug to drug addicts.

What I have known for 40 years is 1) that methadone is 6 times as addictive as heroin and a nightmare to quit; and 2) 99% of all addicts who take "free" (to them, but not to you and me) methadone also use heroin and booze and drayno and anything else they can get their hands on each and every day.

There will be those among you who will claim that this - giving methadone - is better than nothing...and in saying that, you will reveal how little you understand of the nature of addicts and addictions.

Methadone is WAY WORSE than nothing.

It is one of the great ways that a lazy society has figured out how to keep addicts stupid and enslaved to their addictions.

And what about these righteous "professional" organizations - College of Pharmacists of B.C. and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, which administers this sick program?

Are they enjoying their lifestyles and their families and sleeping well at night while they rob the public and keep stupid, vulnerable people locked in misery?

$54 Million. My god! I'm still reeling over that news.

Stephane, We hardly Knew You

If you check the hilarious results of my Prime Minister survey - in the right hand cloumn - you will see that NOBODY trusts Stephane Dion

I think I will take to calling him Le Petite Weasel.

My Friday Province Column

will appear in the paper on Monday.

Don't even ask...

The many Scams of Methadone Exposed

Mark Hasiuk, writing in the Vancouver Courier, has been proving himself in recent months to be one of Vancouver's best journalists.

In this weekend's cover story - "Juiced Up" - he has shown once again why he is so worth reading.

This must-read is all about methadone and it is thorough and bang-on.

You thought you knew something about this scourge. Well, read this and then you'll really understand.

Here's Lookin' in Yer Cup, Mate

Now that the LPGA, bowing to waves of criticism, has backed off its deeply offensive directive that only English speaking lady golfers may play with them, perhaps it's time for the Vancouver Golf Club in sunny, downtown Coquitlam to drag itself screaming into the 19th Century.

Read the LPGA story, as covered bu this morning's NY Times, here.

Fairy tales Can Come True...

The Sun editorial this morning urges our schools to "instill hope in out children."

Hard to argue with that.

But hope is hard to come by without the commitment of real resources.

Where is the money for school libraries and library staff? Where are the physical education teachers who will supervise the 30 minutes a day of exercise now mandated by the province?

Where are the music classes?

Where are the books and school supplies that cash-strapped parents don't have to pay for?

Yellow brick roads are so much smoother when they have little ATMs along the way.

White Elephant

$65 Million to update BC Place stadium.

And will that be shown on the Olympic books?

Keep 'em Coming

The Harper government has sent me another flyer about crime.

This one shows some middle-class actor boy pretending to be a beer-guzzling scofflaw.

The message is that the government supports jail sentences for serious offences.

OK by me.

Michael Sims on Sarah Sunshine & The Ozark Mountain Gang

f you want to find an important line of continuity between the current Bush-Cheney administration and a potential McCain-Palin one, it was in the speech that Sarah Palin gave to the Republican Convention on Wednesday.

She said, "Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he (Obama) is worried that someone won't read them their rights"

"Read them their rights" is a metaphor. If she would not "read them their rights" then it means suspected terrorists are to be treated differently. How differently? This is undefined. Does it include torture, indefinite imprisonment without trial, sending them to third-world countries for "special treatment"? Does it include spying on American citizens? We simply don't know.

Ms. Palin, in one off-the-cuff phrase, wants to eliminate all of the protections and rights that that the American judicial system has developed over 232 years and replace them with--nothing. Only the whim a bureaucrat that happens to be in charge of the interrogation. The rights and freedoms that, until recently, had made the USA the beacon of freedom and tolerance in the world, are simply wiped away.

As we now are aware, this is just what has been happening under Bush and Cheney. Clearly, it would continue under McCain and Palin. Is this the kind of "change" we want?

Michael Sims September, 2008

It gets Worse Every Night

Last night, one speaker after another issued relentless verbal assaults on Barack Obama.

Each of them with the now patented Republican smirk. The smirk, which at first just seemed like a psychotic nervous tick on the part of the inadequate President, has now jumped faces. It is everywhere.

Rudy "I personally saved New York from Eveything Bad" Guiliani made rude remarks about Obama and laughed at every one of his terribly clever barbs. So did the rubes in the Texas cowboy hats and veteran's caps.

Then, Little Miss Family Values came aboard, wrapped in the flag, wrapped in war and victory and fighting men, and attacked Obama some more. This is the fundamentalist lintball who has her congregation convinced that God is directing American troops into Iraq and that they must all pray for a $30 Billion pipe line in the hood.

I think that's in Leviticus, isn't it? Or is Ecclesiastes? And the Lord said, "Go unto the North and build pipe lines, my children."

I'm not sure if it's 1930 or 1950 in St. Paul this week, but it doesn 't look very much like 2008 to me.

One speaker after another drew cheers and tears for sabre-rattling simple-minded reducing-it-all-to-us-vs.-them talk.

Let me say this in as simple a way as I can.

I like Barack Obama.

I hope he becomes the next President.

I do not understand the cynicism about him.

Yes, he is a politician.

But, he is the first politician in a great long while that has inspired something approaching hope.

He has no experience being president.

No one has experience being president until he or she becomes so.

I believe Obama can learn quickly and rise to the occasion.

Everybody dismissed the haberdasher from Missouri and Truman became a great president.

The Republicans have found great success, beginning with Nixon, in selling fear, so they are doing it again.

We are at war. The terrorists are coming. Obama can't lead. McCain is a war hero. Blah, blah, blah.

So tiresome. So predictable. So transparent.

Except, of course, for the dopes in funny hats and the sad veterans, who are being used as pawns.

What a detestable exhibition that was last night.

Sarah Palin is downright creepy.

May Obama win.

Brave New (Furry) World

Prozac for pets may be panacea for owners

Our four-legged friends can get depressed, too. Sometimes drugs can help ease the pain

When I read a headline like this, I turn the page.

Life is very short.

Now, look at the photo and tell me who's on heavy meds?

Shed His Light on Thee

I find watching the Republican Convention an astonishing experience.

What am I seeing? Where am I? Who are these people? What planet are we on? Have I awoken yet? Is this a school day?

Laura Bush, with total conviction and a straight face, tells us that her husband, the worst president in history, has kept "our land safe."

Aside from Al Qaeda and the Taliban and the lunatics who run Iran and North Korea has there been anyone more dangerous in the world these past eight years than George Bush?

Bush appears by satellite grinning and smirking as usual and talking drivel.

Then, Fred Thompson, that completely bogus, false one-note actor (disdain and smirk) gets up and waves the hot button flags - honor, decency, strength, country - while images of warriors flash behind him.

Then, that self-serving ambitious turncoat, Joe "I'll stump for anyone who gives me a big job" Lieberman, piles on the heroics.

Through it all, old and ugly and stupid people cheer and cry and wave the banner.

I tell you honestly, I completely don't get it.

You don't have to accuse me of not getting it.

I confess. I don't get it.

I can only watch these scary little people for moments at a time. I always think I'm watching a satire or a zombie movie or something.

So some of you don't buy into the Obama mythology.

Fair enough.

But this is the vision you share for the future?

Simplistic, old, tired shallow patriotism, sabre-rattling and so-called "family values?"

The idea of John McCain -with or without Little Miss Baked Alaska - running the show gives me the total willies.

I know many lovely Americans.

I have have met so many of these bombastic simpletons as well.

So right, so conviced of their rightfulness, their superiority, their claim to God's special graces.

- 30 -

Ray

Anthem Re-visited

Please Note

Discussions and comments about "The Pregnancy" will not appear on this site.

Such trivia is distasteful, irrelevant and a meaningless distraction.

The real issues are being obscured by the fate of a girl in Alaska, who a week ago was anonymous.

The real issues in this American election are War, health care, education, housing, mortgages, productivity, jobs and pride.

Wait.

Here's a better summary:

"Our nation is in trouble on two fronts. The American dream is under siege at home, and America’s leadership in the world has been weakened. Middle-class and low-income Americans are hurting — with incomes declining; job losses, poverty and inequality rising; mortgage foreclosures and credit card debt increasing; health care coverage disappearing; and a very big spike in the cost of food, utilities and gasoline.

“And our position in the world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and too little cooperation, by a perilous dependence on imported oil, by a refusal to lead on global warming, by a growing indebtedness and a dependence on foreign lenders, by a severely burdened military, by a backsliding on global nonproliferation and arms control agreements, and by a failure to consistently use the power of diplomacy, from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central and Eastern Europe.”

That was Bill Clinton at the Democratic Convention last Wednesday.

The fortunes of one family in Anchorage haven't changed those priorities.

Talk to me about the election. Talk about Palin, McCain, Obama, Biden, housing, race, money, Iraq, Iran, jobs.

But the "P" word will go unheeded in these pages.

Chet Atkins Plays Scott Joplin

How LRT was Sabotaged in Favor of SkyTRain

A much more complete story on SkyTrain vs. LRT has become available through one man's Freedom of Information pursuits.

This is a lengthy document, but it is real and it is very much worth your reading.

Camp No Pot Luck

This extraordinary letter to the editor in the Langley Times was brought to our attention thanks to a diligent commenter. Note especially the last paragraph with which many of us can identify.

"Experience the difference." Indeed.

Ferries can’t handle emergencies

Published: August 30, 2008 12:00 PM

Editor: I was recently on the Coastal Inspiration ferry with my three baby girls, young niece, and much of my extended family including our children’s grandmother and their 82-year-old great-grandfather.

Unfortunately, it was the trip where there was a truck fire on the car deck.

I would like to start with compliments to the staff on board who seemed to do a good job organizing people into one area of the ship calmly. It seemed there was a lot of confusion, but the on-board staff did a good job keeping people calm.

However the rest of BC Ferries’ staff should be fired; especially whoever is in charge of emergency response.

After walking off ship, we were all corralled into a concrete area for four to five hours.

It was over one hour before anyone even came to talk to us, telling us they had no idea what was going on.

One person was handing out free water bottles and cookies — thanks; not much good for my twin one-year-old girls though. I looked around at the two-hour mark for elusive BC Ferries employees and could find none.

There were none. No BC Ferries people were with us for hours.

I called BC Ferries on my cell phone and got no further. The lady basically ignored me, and in the courtyard we sat — uninformed, with no food, no milk and no place for my kids to nap. That’s right; I called from the courtyard we were stuck in, and was still ignored with undue diligence.

By now my three girls, my niece, and my 82-year-old grandpa were all getting tired and hungry. The twins had proceeded to throw themselves on their backs on the concrete surroundings and scream. I asked everyone I could find (which totalled the cookie and water guy) “was it going to be one hour or five hours?”

The point was that, if I had some idea, I could take my family somewhere to eat. No one knew, no BC Ferries employees were to be found. All I found were some girls selling walk on tickets for the other ferries, and they were no help at all.

At the two and one-half hour mark, the spokesperson wandered back, talking about tour buses coming for people to rest in. These buses never appeared. He then disappeared again.

I found the one BC Ferries employee, the cookie and water guy again, and asked if we could just leave since my kids were now in hysterics, hungry and way over tired. He told me I might get a fine for leaving my van on the deck of the ferry.

I would like to say to BC Ferries — you terrorized my family more than the fire did.

You left my family, old and young, sitting on a concrete pad helpless, told we can’t leave, and offered nothing in the way of help.

Special high pay for special training you always claim, but when it comes down to it you suck and a private company could do no worse.

Try providing food for kids, a nap place, and let us know about how long so we can not feel stuck there helpless, with hungry screaming tired kids. It is obvious you have no plan for handling emergencies properly. How about at least one employee staying with the people for five hours?

BC Ferries, not the fire, terrorized my family, forcing us to sit in a concrete area. There were two one-year-olds, a two-year-old, a five-year-old, four adults, a grandma and our 82-year-old great-grandpa.

By the way, we were going to look at buying a cabin on the Island, but decided BC Ferries is too incompetent to depend on. Instead, we spent some time looking at the MLS website for cabins in the Interior of B.C.

Mike MacDonald,

Langley