August 2004 - July 2005           Archives

 ******** Welcome to The Director's View. My name is Deborah and I am The Director of Medical ----Assisted-Treatment © which utilizes the use of medications like the one which has saved and changed many lives.  There are alot of us that are grateful ---  that we discovered methadone for without it a lot of us would not be here today to sing its praises.  (I ) would not be here today to sing its praises, if a miracle had not sent it into my life.   Recently, a new one ----- has been approved for use named buprenorphine.  Many of you may have heard of it by the trade names of Subutex® ---and -----Sub-oxone®.   I have a lot I want to share-join me?

"BE ASHAMED TO DIE UNTIL YOU HAVE WON SOME VICTORY FOR HUMANITY"

"Who would believe that a democratic government would pursue for eight decades a failed policy that produced tens of millions of victims and trillions of dollars of illicit profits for drug dealers, cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, increased crime and destroyed inner cities, fostered widespread corruption and violations of human rights and all with no success in achieving the stated and unattainable objective of a drugfree America. " Milton Friedman, Winner of 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize For Economic Science

July 26, 2005

There's nothing pretty about opiate addiction. Heroin, the U.S.'s most commonly abused opiate, offers a euphoric rush, then drowsy mindlessness that lasts maybe six hours, followed by a crashing craving that lasts maybe forever.

Addicts run the risk of death if they inject a bad dose, or HIV if they share a needle with the wrong junkie. A heroin habit can cost hundreds of dollars a day, a tab that's hard to cover when one is high and wasted. The drug drains society of billions in costs for crime, hospital care, incarceration, foster care, injuries, and death.

In the U.S., some 800,000 people are chronically addicted to heroin, and a growing number are becoming addicted to OxyContin, another synthetic opiate. There are also an unknown number of weekend warriors, trying to get along on the edge of addiction.

In the scheme of national health tragedies, this may not seem like a lot of people, but the pain and hopelessness for addicts, their families, and society cries out for compassion and a national solution.

For 40 years, methadone has offered one such hope, but its power to help addicts has been challenged almost continuously. It is controversial and carries its own dark stigma.

A synthetic opiate, methadone can control the dull roar of pain. It blocks the brain's opiate receptors and can curb craving for heroin or morphine without offering the intense, short-lived blast of euphoria and drowsiness that comes with other opiates.

A narcotic painkiller, methadone was first synthesized by German chemists just before World War II in a search for a nonaddictive painkiller. When used by heroin or morphine addicts, methadone fills the m-opioid receptors in the brain, essentially taking the place of those opiates and negating their influence. Methadone is longer lasting than heroin, allowing 24 to 36 hours before it must be retaken, rather than six hours between a heroin fix. It can be taken orally, breaking an addict's pattern of injection, and it produces a weak "high" that disappears with longer treatment, as does the intense craving for more.

Several of these properties were noticed in the late 1940s, and methadone began being used to help detoxify heroin and morphine addicts who were  trying to kick the habit. Withdrawal from methadone is tough but less painful than withdrawal from other opiates.

A series of studies in the mid-1960s at Rockefeller University in New York City, led by Vincent Dole and his colleague and wife, Marie Nyswander, found that methadone could also be a viable maintenance treatment to keep addicts off heroin and give them a fighting chance to function in society. The researchers were looking for a way to curb the growing opiate addiction plaguing New York City.

"They looked at a small group of people with long histories of addiction," says Joycelyn Woods, president of the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates and a neuropsychologist. "They tried treating them with different levels of morphine, but the subjects just sat there day after day watching TV and waiting for their next shot. Nothing happened.

"When everything else failed, they switched the subjects to methadone. They raised the dose higher than that used to detoxify addicts, and after about two weeks, the addicts began to behave differently. One guy had been a tradesman and wanted to rejoin his union and go back to work; another guy suddenly started painting furiously; a third one wanted to get a high school degree. They weren't sitting in front of the TV anymore. It was like they picked up their lives where they left off years ago," Woods says.

But staying heroin-free is not easy. Woods says withdrawal from long-term heroin use--even with methadone to smooth the path--fails most of the time. In all, she estimates that there are about 250,000 U.S. addicts on methadone.

But there is a strong stigma in the U.S. against drug users, especially heroin addicts. Woods ticks off many examples of judges ordering addicts off methadone as part of probation, doctors refusing to treat addicts, and communities blocking clinics from their neighborhoods.

About one-third of addicts have mental health problems, she says, but they are frequently told to get off methadone as a condition for treatment at a mental health facility. "They are given a choice of 'treat my addiction or treat my mental illness.' Heck of a choice for people like these who have been pretty beaten up by life."

Governments should be encouraging medical treatment with methadone, not trying to get people off the drug, says Robert Newman, a physician and international leader in addiction treatment. Such treatment should be done where possible by a private physician and should usually last a patient's lifetime, he says, adding that opiate addiction is a medical condition for which there is no known cure.

At best, he says, heroin addicts in the U.S. are treated in large, government-approved, centralized clinics, and doctors and clinicians face a host of government restrictions.

And 80% of U.S. heroin addicts lack access to methadone treatment facilities, he says.

The U.S., he continues, should follow the U.K., France, Switzerland, Croatia, Australia, Canada, and other countries and ease access to methadone, expand its use by encouraging private physicians to provide medical treatment for opiate addiction, and address addiction as a solvable national problem.—JEFF JOHNSON

Chemical and Engineering News 2005

Did you know that in 2004 a woman in Tazewell County, Virginia had her parole revoked and was sent back to prison because--against Judges' orders--she was using physician-prescribed methadone to help control her OxyContin addiction?

MAY 16, 2005   NEWS ALERT ******** THREE DAY OLD BABY SEIZED FROM
STEVEN COUNTY HOSPITAL IN GEORGIA**********

COMMENT:    Received from the parents asking for Help:

Our baby was taken from us by Rabun County Department of Family and Children Services on April 29, 2005, 3 days after he was born, because my husband and I are methadone patients.  Our baby is in a foster home (Department of Family And Children Services) but today  Judge Temple gave custody to my Mother for twelve months and ordered my husband and I to start tapering off the methadone other-wise we may never see our baby again.  As far as I know, it was not legal for them to do that.   Please help us get our baby back??? 

The Director's View

How  Long  Are We Going To Allow The Injustice Happening In America To Continue???

Tonight  in  an  empty  house  sets  a  young  married couple, who has anxiously anticipated the  joyous arrival of their first child .  Yet, they sit alone in the house tonight,feeling as if a freight train had run over them. They are still in a "state of shock"  today, as much  as they were the day,they discovered a Court Order had been issued  to allow  "Department of Family and Children Sevices"  to take control of their newborn baby. 

Let me take you back a few years to where their story actually began.  They were like most teenagers, no different.  For whatever reasons they did experiment with drugs, some people can and then walk away, but unfortuantely it was not their fate.  We still are unable to answer all  the questions involving addiction but we are getting closer to the answers as I write. 

I am sure growing up as children we never expect these unfortunate circumtances to happen to us.  Why some find themselves addicted and unable to get free and others have no problem --we just don't know yet.  Now, with the developement of more advanced technological equipment -we are discovering more each day.

For years, Opioid dependence was viewed as a problem of motivation, willpower or strenght of character.  Through careful study of its natural history. and through research at the genetic, molecular, neuronal, and epidemilogical levels; it has been proven that opiate addiction is a medical disorder characterized by physical symptoms.

Methadone is an approved treatment for addiction.  There are alot of people who believe methadone is substituting one drug for another.  Wrong!  Methadone is not a substitute for opioids, or any other short-acting opioid and does not affect individuals in the same way.  Methadone does not create a pleasurable or euphoric feeling; rather it relieves physiological opioid cravings and is generally chosen by opioid-dependent individuals.  

Methadone normalizes the body's metabolic and hormonal functioning  that was impaired by the use of heroin and other opioids.  It is a corrective, not a curative treatment.  Unlike the disruptive nature of short-acting chemicals on the brain, methadone has long-acting properties that provide metabolic stability.  For example, methadone creates the physical stability that allows female menses to return to normal cycles after its disruption from from opioid abuse.

Methadone allows embryos and fetuses to develop a safe and stable metabolic environment instead of experiencing withdrawal from opioids every six hours due to the mother's use.

Moreover, in 1997, the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services' National Institutes of Health Consensus Panel found the following concerning methadone treatment:  "Of various treatments available, methadone maintenance treatment, combined with attention to medical, psychiatric, and socio-economic issues, as well as drug counseling, has the highest probability of being effective.  

"Methadone has been widely used to treat opioid dependence for the past forty years.  Methadone stops heroin cravings, the leading cause of relapse, and blocks the painful effects  of heroin withdrawal.  Wherein heroin destablizes the brain, methadone helps stabilize it.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 she  gave  birth to a healthy baby boy in Steven County Hospital in Toccoa. They were both so proud and happy they had sought treatment for their addiction. They, after reviewing their options, chose methadone because it was considered the most effective treatment,even though the treatment required more money and was highly regulated by government rules and regulations.  It offered  advantages over the other ones.  They would both would receive counseling, and would be randomly drug-tested for illicit drugs and their Addiction Specialist could work hand in hand with her Obstetrician giving them both  the ability to better manage the pregnancy.

The advantage that was most appealing to both of them was she would be able to breast-feed her baby.  Given the well-established importance in the mother-infant bonding process, the fact that methadone-maintained women can often breastfeed their infants was of vital significance. They had considered  *abstinence-treatment  (drug-free),but since both had been down the road once with it and had not achieved success, they could not risk it again at the expense of their child's life.

They had been advised maternal opiate withdrawal can cause fetal death.  No! it wasn't for them - they could not take any chances-they now knew it was a disease-they had been given a second chance at marriage and children and they were going to put the baby's life first. Then later after the baby was older and their life was more stabilized --at that point they would start detoxification off methadone. 

Thursday, April 28, came and with it brought Department of Family and Children Services  to Steven County Hospital in Toccoa  --- with a Court Order issued by Honorable Judge Johanna Temple.  She is ------a Juvenile Judge that resides over Habersham, Towns, White, Steven and Rabun County. This is not the first time,either she has taken children away from their parents, -for no reason,other than the fact, they were on methadone. 

Now, from what we can deduce about the incident, it had to have been one of the employees at Steven County Hospital that notified The Department of Children and Family Services. We do not know this for an absolute- we are just making an obvious deduction. I ask you who else would have had a motive? If I am wrong -  I humbly ask forgiveness of them. It is possible they were just not familiar with methadone? Did they not know  it was an approved treatment for addiction?  I guess it is possible, but does ignorance make what they did right?

I started my own investigation.  I began asking questions around.  I discovered there had been two infants deaths from an overdose of methadone.  Had the infants been given methadone, surely not, then how had they died from an overdose of methadone?  This really began to bother me-- when you get the feeling that you are missing some clue--and no one is talking.  Were these deaths investigated?  Which hospital(s) had they died in?  All I have to report to you is I did find out that both infants died in the five counties Judge Temple resides over. Now, I cannot even tell you these facts I discovered is the truth because I haven't been able to check out the validity of the statements made yet.  It is all considered hearsay at this point in my investigation.

We did discover the infant developed mild withdrawal  symptoms and learned from the parents they were detoxing the infant with paregoric.  The couple had been attending The Robert W. Dail  Memorial Clinic in Commerce, Georgia which comes highly recommended.  The Program Director there had over fifteen years experience working with methadone patients and had worked with hospitals detoxing over forty babies in her lifetime without any problems.  The couple felt safe and secure in her care and  knew they could trust her with their very lives.  She visited them at the hospital and was horrified to discover what had happened to them.  She assured them not to worry -she would be there for them to testify in court and went on to say it had to be a mistake.

The court date was set for  May 16,  2005.  Can you imagine as a parent, you have just given birth, being without your child, since 26th of April, knowing your child was seized by The Department of Family and Children Services and they had full possession of it? Right!  They were extremely worried but did not feel they  deserved having their baby taken away from them. They had a  problem with addiction and they had sought help and obtained it. As the World Health Organization recently reported, "Substance-Abuse Dependence is as much a disorder  of the brain as any other neurological or psychiatric disorder."  

The day finally arrives for the court hearing.  The couple had been  a court-appointed attorney . He too  felt as if a mistake had been made  and felt as if  the error could be taken care of.  Robin Rathburn, Program Director of The Robert W. Dail Memorial Clinic they attended would be there to testify on their behalf. Nevertheless, they had lost some faith during the last few weeks in the judicial system.  Who could blame them?  I am one that will tell you - I wouldn't want to trade places with them. 

Four Registered Nurses representing Department of Family and Children Services walked in followed by another four  from Steven County Hospital and then our Honorable Judge Johanna Templeton takes her seat.  The couple was aware the Judge had taken children away from another Mother taking methadone,so they just had no idea of what to expect. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, when Judge Temple began to speak.

The Honorable Judge Temple gave temporary custody for one month to Depart-ment of Family and Children Services. Custody was given to Department to withdraw the baby from methadone. Then  after the thirty days, custody would go to the girl's Mother. Now hold on to your seats --------She went on to say if they did not agree to the arrangement then they would never see the child again. Now, unless the Judge is aware of some information I am not - and this is only my opinion and I guess I am still entitled to it. She made a bad decision - wonder how much she even knows about methadone ?  Did she do her homework before issuing the Court Order? What was her decision based on?  Who reported it to her? Was it soley based on the nurses testimony?  Was it soley based on the fact they were taking methadone?  Dis she allow her personal opinion on methadone color her decision.  If I was a betting woman  -- I would give you three to one odds she did.

Judge Temple went on to say they would never regain custody of their child, until they both had detoxed off methadone.  She even refused them the right to visit their child until they both were free of methadone.  If methadone treatment is terminated against the wishes of patients and their physicians, "specially trained in addiction medicine" then the treatment for opioid dependence is halted altogether.

The patients are stripped of necessary medication subjecting them to suffer the terrfying and painful experience of withdrawal and the significant risk of relapse to heroin use.  It is a deliberate indifference to serious medical needs, it offends evolving standards of decency and is "cruel and unusual punishement."

The couple have no prior child abuse charges.  They did nothing wrong but try and clean up their act.  They sought treatment for their addiction problems.   They wanted the white picket fence with a child to play within its boundaries. What do we tell them?  There are no second chances.  What do you do if you cannot afford to retain an attorney?  Do you lose your child by default? 

Please send the word around to everyone living in the counties over which Judge Johanna Temple resides.   ***Warn them if you know they are taking methadone especially if they are pregnant , but not only if they are pregnant, but if  they are parents with children for if they find themselves in trouble with the law---they may suffer the same consequences.  When did judges become specialized in addiction?  

If they are any attorneys that are capable of handling a case of this caliber pro-bono---please give us a call immediatly!  I won't hold my breath waiting on a call because there are few left with any compassion on this earth. 

Please keep the couple and their child in your prayers daily. I will keep you posted on the developements as they arise.  We need to stand behind them and as many of you that can make the next court date--you need to be there to give them your back up support because the next time it could be you.

The Director's View
    ---Deborah Shrira

APRIL 8, 2005        FOR YOUR INFORMATION            NEWS FLASH

Hello, how is everyone doing?  It has been busier than ever here and I am behind as usual --- as I shared with you on "Members News."   Actually this is  not  the  monthly  news --- but  I started  asking  a question each month in our  Patients' Forum  that  people could share their feelings on -- we all have something inside that needs to be heard but so many of you keep your feelings all locked up --- maybe you are afraid to share your viewpoint  because  you have  been  told you were stupid so many times- you began to believe  it or  maybe  someone  laughed  at what you said --- I don't know what happened to you -- but I am here to tell you -- you are not stupid -- and if people was critical of what you said ---- they are the ones that need help.  If you have been called weak -- maybe told, you would never amount to anything --- nothing you ever did seemed to please your parents ------ maybe it was your husband --- maybe it was your wife.   Please, for yourself and all the others like you, I'm asking you to let go of the recording in your head that has doomed you to failure.   I will be there for you -working beside you - for I fall in the same class -- and we all must shut down the recording that plays all the time.  "Let's make a pact between us that we all will begin to love ourselves for just who we are. "  Each of us is different and has a special gift to offer others and to the world.  I say, "Let's go for the whole loaf of bread instead of settling for crumbs."  "Let's begin to love ourselves and each other." Let's find out just who we are and what we have to offer." 

To thine ownself be true.   -----   Shakespeare    

If you change to please others -- if you give up  something that you believe in -- then you are being unfaithful to who you are -- you must believe in who you are then in what you are doing.  Be yourself-- if not --- you will end up hating your ownself .  If  you  try and please everyone just to be accepted -- you will wake up one morning and have no idea of who you are or what you believe.  How did I get off on this -- I guess someone needed to hear this, maybe it was me.  Be good to yourself .  Accept yourself as you are - faults and all. Skinnny or overweight?  We can change these facts about ourselves - we can all work together to help each other discover the good qualites in ourselves.

Let's love ourselves.  Let's make July -love our body month. Let's try and see it as  a temple unto God.

Let's try feeding our bodies with nutritional food. Let's try not using any harmful drugs. 

Let's be a model for our children - children learn   what they live.

Let's accept ourselves with unconditional love.  Let's
realize we are special -each one of us are different.  we  all have a special gift to offer the world.

let's not be afraid to ask for help when we need help.
No one is perfect except  some think they are.

To thine ownself be true!!!
 Shakespeare

 I think all of us that have abused medications - self medicated- should be able to relate. Why?  I  believe most of us have been abused, maybe not intentionally, nevertheless it happened.  Maybe our parents didn't have enough time to spend with us ------ this could be intentional but some because it was a one -- parent household and they had to work more than one position.  The end result was we were neglected!   Neglect is abuse.   It could have been we were emotionally abused.  We had parents that were very critical of us. They wanted to live their lives through us.   It didn't matter what we did,we could never achieve their approval or acceptance of us for simply who we were.  Then there were others that suffered physical abuse along with the others combined.  Most of us did survive. Our environment created survivors but as survivors we still carry around our emotional baggage from the past.  We still hear the record playing over and over in our brains.  We are still wounded.  Scars take time to heal.  This is why we need to nurture one another ---- we need nurturing, love and acceptance from others to become a healthy emotional person again capable of loving again.    

fWe could not cope with their disapproval nor their conditional love.  It hurt more than they ever realized. ---- We are sensitive people, if you ever take the time to notice - most users are sensitive people. ----- Therefore we felt the pain of their disapproval more than the non-user/ we began to self- medicate the pain.   We began to dislike ourselves. --- We wanted their love and approval so terribly  we would have done anything for them but once again at critical points in our life they were not there for us when we needed them- therefore we began using more and more. It was the only way we could deal with the pain- medicate --- then we could feel good about ourselves even if for only hours. We learned to block the pain by self - medicating our-selves and it began to happen more and more. We became addicted  because when we took our helpers we didn't feel bad at all about ourselves, we didn't hurt any longer and the skies once again became blue for us. ------ Like myself, alot of you discovered methadone and was able to stop using.  That is great!  We still have our recovery to work on and through until we completely are free of the old recordings and no longer fear pain will lead us back to using.  Right?  Can any of you relate to anything I have said tonight?  If so- please let me hear from you and join with me on the journey we must take.

We stand up for ourselves women!  We no longer let men abuse us physically nor emotionally. We are in recovery!  We understand "Addiction Is A Disease!"  We got caught in a trap. We were drowning! We made mistakes and we will make more but we will never let medications control our lives.  We chose methadone because it was the right decison for us. We will fight the stigma and discrimination attached to methadone and the path easier for those who follow in times to come.        

"The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it." -- Albert Einstein 

Hello, Happy Belated Easter to all my viewers and thanks to all the members that have joined with us.  We need all the people to  become  members  if   you are benefiting in any way from our website.  I know money is hard to come by and I understand, but for us, to continue to bring you all this information and take your phone calls and emails and last, but not least, to provide assistance for you twenty-four hours a day --- we need money to carry on.  We have been operating, since we started on a shoestring budget  -- with only our money.  We have received no grants nor government money-- so I am asking you --please, lend a helping hand to us  -- that we, in return, can lend a helping hand to others and who knows what the future holds,  it could be you that needs a helping hand extended one day.    Thank you.

Being required to attend a clinic multiple times per week is often difficult under the best of circumstances, but having to balance such attendance requirements with the their condition in secret. Patients are often forced to concoct humiliating explanations for their unusual schedules".

"The clinics are generally not permitted to adapt to special needs of individuals. How can you expect patients to hold jobs and the responsibility that is often associated, especially jobs that require traveling and unscheduled activities? This is a tremendous problem. While we tell patients that they have a disease, and that methadone is a medication like any other, they can't reveal their status because of the widespread stigma! I've had patients who've told their employers that they had cancer and had to go for chemotherapy, rather than reveal they were receiving responsibilities of a job or a family can be close to impossible, especially when there is a need to maintain methadone."

 Day in the Life...

"A patient comes into the emergency room of a community hospital on a snowy winter day. He is the head of a company and he has broken his ankle on the street. He is in pain and is waiting in the admitting area. The resident says to him 'What medications do you take?' This is a routine question, right? But not for a methadone patient. He answers 'I'm on this for blood pressure and this for cholesterol,' and then he needs to make the decision – 'do I disclose that I'm on methadone or not?' He decides to tell the doctor.

"The first reaction, especially outside of an urban area reflects the fact that the staff has never even seen a person on methadone, and haven't the vaguest idea what it is. And the typical response is 'Methadone?

What are you doing on methadone?  You don't look like an addict.'  He answers 'I've been on methadone 25 years,  I'm on 60mg. I'm in this very special program for stable individuals with  a long-term  record of abstinence  from  all   illicit substances.'  But they don't have any idea what the 'special program' is, so it's meaningless.

And the patient says 'Listen, I'm just in a lot of pain with this broken ankle; could I get something for the pain?' And now the doctor thinks, 'Well, methadone's an opiate, that's what we use for pain – he shouldn't be in pain. Obviously, this is an "addict" who's drug seeking.

He's just trying to get opiates from me. ' The doctor may even yell out 'We've got    an "addict" in room five with a leg injury.'   And then this man who is a big time executive is reduced to "an addict in room five". Sure he wants Demerol and  he needs it, but he'll be lucky if he even gets Tylenol.

"When these things happen over and over again, eventually the person says 'I'm not going to tell them – I'm much better off that way.' Because if he doesn't tell them, then he's Mr. X; he's a patient with insurance to be catered to. He's treated the way he deserves to be treated, and the way all patients deserve – and expect – to be treated, except those receiving methadone maintenance."

The Ultimate Price for Stigma

"Stigmatization of methadone maintenance can be a threat to more than one's ego or livelihood. It can be deadly. Overdoses take the lives of those who have shied away from maintenance, or dropped  out of treatment because  of   the   ignorance and contempt with which they've been treated. Infectious diseases are transmitted by users unable to stop injecting heroin and unwilling to subject themselves to the prejudice associated with methadone."

Share your Opinion.

In my opinion, I have never read truer words.  Have any of  you been to the "Emergency Room' and had something similiar happen?  I certainly have.  I went         one  Sunday late afternoon because I had vomited up my methadone for two days        but I was  trying to hold on to Monday when I picked up my takehomes -------- but       my withdrawal  became severe  and I  could  not   wait.  Before    going,   we   called,    explained  the circumstances and what I needed,  because  I was too sick to set  there for  two-three hours for the physician to say  "NO." They told us, "Come  on, they had methadone, after double-checking  with the 'hospital pharmacy'   at our insistence." 

We arrive --------- and as they  had  advised  me, I  brought with me my Clinic ID   Card and  Driver's  License, with my  empty  prescription bottles with  my Name, Clinic's Name, Address, Phone Number, Physican's Name along with  the name  of the Medication and Dosage.  I arrive and give them to the Nurse at the Front Desk Admission and once again ask -- she assures me there  will be no problem and they will  give me enough until I can get to the "Methadone Clinic" tomorrow but  still I am negative --- I don't trust them. 

It is now three hours later and we haven't been called back yet -- I am in total     misery and just want to die.  I can't set still.  I ache all over, my nose is running and   I am beginning to yawn. Finally, I hear my name pronounced wrong but who cares now--  just give me my methadone and let me go.  I haven't slept in four days --- I just want to go for I am so tired..   

Here he comes and I have seen that look  before.  He walks in, and  asks why I take methadone?  I tell him and share with him what happened --then he says, " I can't give you methadone for it is against the law to precribe it for addiction."  ----- We argued back and forth and finally in his own smug way said,   "Take what I am offering or leave it -- I don't care  -- " I replied quickly with I'll take it.  It consisted of a Darvocet N-100® and Ativan® 2mg. They give it there for me to take and send none home with me ----What is wrong with these people?.

I always remember for they look at you like you are the scum of the Earth and once they hear the word "methadone" ---their whole demeanor changes.  I don't know about you -- but it makes me feel dirty -- like I am a cheap piece of trash.  Is it just me?  Has anyone else had a bad experience similiar to mine?  If you have, please --  let me hear from you?  I know I am not the only one that has been made to feel like a piece of  trash.   I need to hear some more reports -- how about some complaints?   Maybe you people believe you are the scum of the earth  --- I hear none of you complaining.   Are you are happy with the way you were treated ? I want to see change --- -- and there is enough of us that if we unite --- we can change things.   Are do you want to just hang loose until they start vaccinating your children to take away the desire for what they term "illegal medications?"  Who are they any way to decide what is illegal and legal?   Who knows they may experiment with the "addicts" first ------- but at the present their plan is to use the experimental vaccine on the children,  especially the ones that are more gentically prone to become addicted, which would beour children???  The vaccine is here --- and believe me they are using it, but you may never know until it is too late. Why?They certainly aren't going to tell you. - I have some astounding news concerning the "pharmacotherapy" they have in mind???   Stay tuned.   

                                         Happy Valentine's Day 2005

Hello, I am back with you today. late as usual but I am the only one working on our website.  I could use some help ---any volunteers?   I'm only joking but not about being the only one.  I like my work --- someone has to do it, right???

It seems as if all the news I have been bringing you lately hasn't been really good news to hear.  I wish I could change the news for you and make the world a better place to live in.  That is what I am trying to do through this website ~ I certainly don't get paid for it, I do it because I really care about you ~ we really care about you for my partner puts in as much time as I do.  Last week we are able to help someone obtain their methadone in jail. It happened on a weekend ~ but we gave up our time to help him and his family and that's all we need.  I have found out when you start helping other people with their problems ~ you forget about yours and they don't seem to overwhelm you.  I recommend if you are worrying too much about your own problems --- the only therapy you need is to find someone that needs help and go help them. I promise you will feel much better about yourself and I bet your problem will take care of itself.

I have felt every form of pain possible, from emotional to physical, humilation and cried barrels of tears.  I've laid in bed alone unable to sleep with withdrawal symptoms so horrible, I couldn't lie still on the bed.  Many times, I've asked, " Why me? "  I've needed my medication so terribly bad for pain ~~ I probably would have sold my soul to Satan for it.  Thankfully, I never had to ---- but I was alone ---- there was no one I could talk to.  There were no computers to retrieve information from and there was no one I could call that wanted to listen to me talk about my problems.  I vowed If I survived I would be there for you.  I am here for you anytime ~ twenty four hours a day ~ seven days a week ~.. Please call me if you need me  ~ if you can't sleep ~ if you can't stop worrying ~~ if someone has broken your heart for love hurts.  I've been there too ~too many times..

I wasn't sure how many of you knew any history about drugs and how all of the "drug wars" started.  The article below is very true.  You could walk in any store and buy them without a prescription.  They had no problems like we have now.  They did put cocaine in coke when it first came on the scene.  My grandmother recalls those times.  I can tell you even when I was first married and we were stationed in Germany.  Then in Germany in the earky seventies _ you could go to the store there and buy codeine and hydrcodone and alot of other drugs without seeing a physician but now even that has changed.

Believe me, I know it sounds so easy but I know it is not for all of you.  I know some of you probaly don't believe me, and there was a time in my life ~ if someone had said what I said to you above ~ I would have said, " What do they know ~ they have it made!"  I don't want to hear their bull___!  Yes, I have said that many times, I started this website because like I said, "I sincerely care."  I have been through hard times, I've been hungry,  I've made almost every mistake in the book. 

Please take the time just for me and read the article.  I want you to know something about the history of drugs.  How many of you think we could go back to those days now and not have any problems?  Maybe , it is too late ---how may of you think it is too late?  Please let me hear your views and cheer up ---it is going to be an exciting year and I have lots of news and information about methadone and other medications to share with you.     

Remember you can call me at any hour or if you can't afford to call then Email us at:  our phone number is 770-527-9119

MRDEANV@AOL.com   or   ARMGADirector@AOL.com

and leave aus your name, phone number and the best time to call and we will return your call.  Don't forget we have a Patients Forum with a Moderator now .  Just click on the button and it will take you straight there where you will meet others like yourself  and join in the conversation and if you need special help  --- do let our moderator Fran know.

" The Truth About  The War On  Drugs "                  History Lesson

This excellent article goes hand-in-hand with the one I wrote called, "The
Truth About The War On Drugs", but I think it drives the point home even
better than I did.

It never ceases to amaze me that people will admit Prohibition was a
mistake, but that the War On Drugs isn't.

I'm  going   to  add  my  little  tidbit:  Harry  Browne  writes  t hat  before  the
current drug bans, there were no drug gang wars because there were no drug
gangs.  The real reason there were no drug gangs is because there were no
drug  profits  to  be  had.  If  a  nine-year-old girl could buy heroin across the
counter in a pharmacy at a low price, there was no motive to smuggle heroin
and urge your  school  kids  to buy  it.    Let's  all allow for a universal, "DUH!"
here, shall we?

Carl F. Worden

 Harry Browne/ February 4 2005

> Few people are aware that before World War I, a 9-year-old girl could walk
into a drug store and buy heroin.

> That's right - heroin.   She didn't need  a doctor's  prescription or  a  note       
from her  parents.  She could buy it right off the shelf. Bayer and other large
drug companies sold heroin as a pain-reliever and sedative in measured doses - just the way aspirin is sold today.

> Cocaine, opium, and marijuana were readily available as well.  No Drug Enforcement Agency,  no undercover cops,   no  Parents  and no  Anti-Drug commercials.  Just  people going about their own business in whatever way          they chose.

>Seeing today's never-ending crisis of teenagers using drugs, youcan imagine   how bad it must have been when there were no laws to stop  children - or adults -from using drugs.  But, in fact, there was no drug crisis at all.   A few people         were addicted to heroin or cocaine, just as a  few  people today are addicted to sleeping pills or Big Macs, but there was no national uproar about it.

Such people, if they wanted to break their habits, could freely consult doctors
without fear of being sent to prison.

There were no black-market drug dealers preying on school children.  There
were no gang wars over drug profits, because there were no drug gangs.             After all, who would buy dangerous drugs from a gangster at outrageous prices   when --- he could buy safe drugs made by a reputable drug company at modest prices?

Americans got a taste of what a Drug War might be like when they endorsed
the 18th Amendment invoking alcohol Prohibition in 1919. The result was gang
warfare, people dying from drinking bathtub gin, corruption in police depart-ments, and  non-violent citizens sent to prison for indulging in a vice that was
strictly personal. Most Americans rejoiced when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. The chances of them supporting another such Constitutional amendment
within the next 50 years were slim to none.

So the federal government didn't dare try amending the Constitution when
politicians and bureaucrats decided to reinstate all the trappings of
Prohibition in a new Drug War. This War That Will Never End was begun in
stages- probably starting with the rarely-enforced Harrison Act of 1914. 

In my recollection, the Drug War as we know it today began during the 1960s,
moved into second and third gears during the Nixon administration of 1969-1974,
and shifted into overdrive during the Reagan administration of 1981-1989.

The Drug War has been easily the greatest cause of violent crime in American   history: Gangs fighting over monopoly territories, children killed in drive-by   shootings, families in the inner city living with the constant sound of gunfire       outside their doors, police killing innocent people in misguided drug raids,        crooked cops helping to spread poisonous drugs, non-violent citizens sent to       prison to be terrorized by violent prisoners - none of which would exist in the absence of the federal drug laws.

There is nothing that could make our cities safer than repealing the drug
laws - all of them.

Does the idea of heroin, cocaine, and opium being sold over the counter sound too ludicrous to be true?  You can check it out for yourself.  A marvelous website, maintained by the University of Buffalo's Addiction Research Unit, shows the actual labels and ads from patent medicines of the 19th and early-20th centuries. You can see the claims made, the ingredients used, and  the acceptance of what so many Americans fear today.

That era of innocence didn't end because America was threatened  by  drug crisis.  It was ended in the traditional way - by politicians looking for new worlds to conquer, politicians who have no interest in examining dispassionately the chaos they cause, and who will never face a single personal  consequence for the lives they have ruined.

Never retreat.  never explain!  Get it done and  let them howl!  Join with me  ---let's  celebrate winning!!!

Welcome ... It's January 2005 ----  We made it!  I proclaim-- It is going to be an exciting year ---- there is going to be happenings this year as never before--be prepared -- we need change --- I feel it in my spirit ----  "We The People." If you hear the call -----  join with us and be part of the change.

You are going to hear the truth --- and see the ugliness--- of what is happening.  As most of us know "Drug Prohibition" is not going away --- even though it is not working -our prisons are overflowing ---with nonviolent offenders.  Our prisoners are abused to the point of being murdered, yes murdered  ------ they are not receiving appropriate medical care.  If we think the abuse was bad in Iraq ---- maybe we ought to take a look at our prisons here.  

Employment is scarce---because we have illegal aliens from other countries taking our positions because they will work for hardly nothing but then they live two -three families in a house.  If we pick up the phone --   we have to push one to speak our language --- why, I ask --- English is our language -- why not one for their language.

Our rights are slowly being taken away of which I have some to share with you later on --- I want to keep you up to date on what is happening for I know some of you have very little time to keep up with what is happening.  You cannot trust the television nor your newspapers to hear the truth.  They are controlled.  Soon our only source for the truth will come under their control --- Internet.          

Contacts:  Patrick Swiney
154406 G79
100 Warrior Lane
Bessemer, AL 35023 Wife: Sherry Swiney
Director of the PATRICK Crusade P.A.T.R.I.C.K web site: 
http://www.patrickcrusade.org 

BACKGROUND:

Patrick Swiney was a police officer in Alabama who tried to expose corruption in his department.  The result?  He was set up for on murder charge.  He was invited to a bar by another cop, drank a beer loaded with a 'mickey' and woke up sitting in a vehicle with a shotgun across his lap.  Inside the house, two people were dead. He was railroaded into the system and all efforts to prove his innocence has been blocked by the system. His wife has spent years getting all the new forensic tests done that prove Patrick is no murderer, but all efforts to get the case reheard has gone nowhere. Instead the prison has tried to kill him with isolation etc knowing Patrick now has a bad heart. The behavior in the following account is not legal in Iraq and it certainly isn't legal in America, although it is rampant all over the country. (PS. If there is a lawyer out there who can help Patrick get his case reheard please contact him or his wife.) 

Kay Lee

 A PLEA FOR HELP

By Patrick Swiney
154406 G79
100 Warrior Lane
Bessemer, AL 35023

22 January 2005

Dear Friends & Family Around The World,

On behalf of humanity, I come to you with a plea for help.  You are all aware of the prisoner abuse in Iraq by the U.S. Military.  The entire world was outraged.  Most all of you are also aware of the massive prisoner abuses in U.S. prisons.  The major difference: the abuses here in the U.S. are far, far greater (even murder) as compared to what the world witnessed in Iraq.  I ask all the world, WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

Yesterday (21 January 2005) at this U.S./Alabama prison, a prisoner (Charles Agee, 47) was brutally murdered – beaten to death by prison guards.  This prisoner was a mental patient, handcuffed, hands behind his back, plus tied with bed sheets then continually beaten until he fell to the floor – all life completely gone.

A completely helpless man: beaten to Death.  I welcome you to: America the Beautiful.  We simply export our Terrorism!

According to a witness, the deputy warden here (Nunley) immediately tried to cover this up: Murder!  But according to the same witness, when the warden himself arrived: Mr. Stephen Bullard, he demanded absolute Truth.  This is most rare for an Alabama State Official.

My concern is that a cover up shall indeed take place, maybe from the State Capitol in Montgomery, Alabama. I ask that you not allow this to happen.  Your efforts could actually be the beginning of the end for these thugs they call officers.

I have “personally” witnessed several beatings here myself.  Every single one: Unprovoked!  One guard even bragged to me after breaking his unbreakable stick on a guy who was lying on the floor, submissive and harmless.  He stated to me: “I’m not bragging.  Yeah – he broke my stick, but I broke his leg.”  THAT is the mentality in Alabama Prisons – so sad, but so, so True! 

But where the hell is the Worldwide Outrage?  Does anyone out there care?  Murders are not all that unusual in Alabama Prisons.  Of course they cover up their evil deeds calling it over-dose, suicide, and a few other things like: Falling.  But should Truth be exposed it would be simple and clear Murder!  “Business as usual”

It is my opinion that the time has come for all these atrocities to stop.  That shall be impossible without the help and support of the World Community.  The Attorney General of this state is a major part of the Problem!  Not a solution.  He supports crime committed by state agents.  The Governor of Alabama is either a party to these crimes, or just ignores them when we complain to Federal Officials, FBI, U.S. Attorney or any part of the U.S. Department of Justice.  It’s as if your pleas for help enters a black hole and goes into another universe, never to be seen or heard of again.  Our “only” hope is for the rest of the World to cry out in: Rage!!!

A few months ago, I was called to the shift commander’s office of this prison.  Upon arrival, Lt. Bartley started waving two envelopes in my face stating: “The deputy warden (Nunley) told me to tell you that he had better not find these (waving the envelopes) in the possession of any other Inmate, or you had better not – ever attempt to get anything like this in here again!”  It turns out that the envelopes contained copies of my article: Too Late To Debate??? http://www.patrickcrusade.org/debate.htm  After reading my article you can clearly see that my life could be in great peril just for speaking out, exposing: Truth!

Things are done in Alabama Prisons, they make bogus charges, then lock you up in an isolation cell, that’s where they do their “real dirty” work – away from all witnesses – so should I get locked up, you all shall know!  And in the event that I’m found dead in one of their isolation cells, in no way could it be called suicide.  It will be: Murder!  Assassination!  Make no mistake about that – secret chambers of torture and death.

One of the guards that took part in the murder of this helpless mental patient yesterday is notorious for his violence and beating prisoners.  He even brags about it telling us all, “You had better check my record” meaning: record of beating prisoners.  I was a witness to that, plus to his fits of violent rage.  One inmate wrote a letter of complaint on this violent guard recently.  Neither he nor anyone else ever heard a word from his letter.  It should have been a wake up call for anyone who actually cared.  A digitized copy of his letter shall follow via email.

We are most blessed to have one of the leading pathologists this nation has to offer as a member of the Patrick Crusade.org, Dr. Glenn Larkin,  I feel certain that Dr. Larkin will secure a copy of the autopsy report of this murder victim and examine the report carefully.  Hopefully, Dr. Larkin will post his findings and evaluation to our website.  If so – if what I hear is correct – this finding shall be heart-breaking: an awful-painful death.  Some of you may not wish to know the torture involved – shocking!

I would like to ask all of you to spread this Truth far and wide, especially to all the International Broadcasters, including Al-Jazeera T.V.; also to French T.V. and the most prestigious BBC. 

The telephones have been turned off in here – which confirms guilt!  Plus, I suppose they think they can suppress the truth that way.  I never said they were bright – just down bright Evil!

Many thousands of souls would greatly appreciate any and all kinds of help you could give in spreading the Truth.  You shall also be receiving even more information from people who have actually been here.  I look to my friends and family all across the world for help.  Without help, we are doomed in this Alabama Pit of Hell.

Most respectfully, I am
Patrick Swiney Submitted by Kay Lee
kaylee1@charter.net
2683 Rockcliff Rd. SE
Atlanta, GA 30316
404-212-0690
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I end up asking if any of you can help --- please do.  They really can use your help.  There's too much eveil out there --- too many people who are lovers of themselves.  If you have no money then report it as he asked. If you have a friend that is an attorney -- ask hime to read it?  If you are an attorney----I ask of you --- please help --- and if there is any way I can be of any help to you --I'm here  -- I'm available to assist you.

This is Deborah Shrira signing off for tonight.  As for the rest of you, I have received letters from some of you that I will post---but I would like for more of you to express your views ---to get more involved--I could use some help with news and most of all I want to hear what all of you are thinking as we enter 2005.  Is all going well --- having any trouble with your methadone treatment -- have any of you tried "Ibogaine"?  It isn't available here but maybe you left the country and returned.   How about buprenorphine?  Is it working out for any of you?     Come on, let me hear from you? 

Goodbye-Deborah  Email Me:  ARMGADirector@aol.com

December 30, 2004

It is almost the midnight hour and we will be bringing in the new year  - year     of 2005.  We hope our web site has been helpful to you and supplied the information you needed.even though it is a long way from completion.  We hope you have taken advant-age of our amenities especially of being here  twenty-four hours a day.just to help assist  you with your needs.

Our goals for 2005 will be working with the legislature to change the laws            at the Federal Level to assure your legal needs are met, if you are incarcerated by this  I mean that if you are on methadone or any other scheduled legal med- ication you will receive it how it is written.  Secondly, we will be working with ARM  to seeing medical maintenance become a routine medical treatment instead of an anomaly so abbhorrent it must be practiced in a separate building under totally separate rules and regulations. 

Enjoy the rest of your evening and bring it in with a bang!!!   Decide it's the year for you to achieve the impossible.  We are all bound together by one thing we have in common --that is methadone --we must act before it is too late.  There is power in unity and numbers-take time to get to know the person who is waiting in line before you- let's form a circle between us all that can never be broken.

"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise             above them."   " Happy New Year" to all of our friends and supporters!!!!            Show  me  what  you are made of in this year to come. dare you?   

December 28, 2004                                               

Hello, Everyone, I finally found the time before the month ran out to get               back to you with some news and views.  How was Christmas for everyone?             It is totally not the same without children.  Personally, Christmas is the most               favorite time of the year  for me because there seems to be more of an outflow              of love during the season.  As for myself I love the shopping, crowded stores.           Christmas Carols and even Santa Claus arrival from the North Pole. I love decorating   the tree, hot apple cider, and the wonderful hayrides we had years ago. I can hardly   wait each year for the Christmas parties, ex-changing gifts, and all the treats my Mother baked at Christmas . The smell coming out of the kitchen on Christmas          Day as we waited for all the relatives to arrive to exchange gifts -- but the best part is      hearing the children, up early in the morning, running down the stairs to see what           Santa Claus had brought them, with excitement in their eyes and the infectious joy        they exhibited, as they ripped the Christmas paper off to see the treasure inside.

Christmas is over now . It is time to end the old and start the new with a bang     and a lot of New Year's Resolutions to keep. I promise 2005 is going to bring with     it a few surprizes.  There is quite alot happening with the United States which concerns me very much  and it should you too.  We all know there has been absolutely no change in our "Drug Wars" if you have not noticed, more and more of our rights are being taken away. It breaks my heart---there are so many hurting people everywhere---without work, without food and some even homeless. ..innocent people are being thrown in prison----children are having to grow up without their parents simply because of  Drug Prohibition  that hasn't worked.

This is my" Belated Christmas Gift" to you.  It was written by Manuel ValenZuela. I want you to read it very slowly and if some of you cannot understand - send me a message - I will interpret it to you.  I think possibly had I shared it with you before, you would have been to be busy to even take the time to read it and ingest every word of it.

"We have been tamed, like a wild stallion, broken, saddled and corralled, robbed of the feedom to roam  America's plains,  Now faithful and obedient to our wicked masters, unwilling to take action, unwilling to resist  and revolt, much like the Declaration of Independence asks us to do In Times Of Tyranny. Instead being complacent In life, entertained by bread and circus, uncaring  for our future, Ignorant to our present, blind to the destruction of America being perpretated by those In power.  We are like zoo animals, encased, depressed, controlled, conditioned,defeated."

Can anyone else relate to the above statement?  I would certainly like to hear     what all of you have to say?  It is not too late to change our life for the better ~ I will announce starting January 1st we will be pledging our allegiance to support another  advocacy group.  We are going to need your help?  We have joined with "Advocates For Recovery Through Medicine," started by Beth Francisco of Methadone Today.  Our goal is to see Methadone Maintenance e treated in a Pysician's Office instead of an anomaly so abhorrent  it must be practiced in a separate building under totally separate rules and regulations. We will be representing Georgia's Chapter.  It was in line with our goals for the future besides I couldn't tell Beth Francisco we couldn't help.  Georgia will do their part!  Right?

Wishing all of you a very Happy New year and a very exciting year to come -----   Until later-  Take care of youselves, be careful of all the partying, and please be         careful when mixing alcohol with drugs, especially, and please dont drink and drive...       Until later....Deborah Shrira  

November 2, 2004

Hello, to all my faithful members and to all the visitors.  We hope you like our website     and will come again and again for information and up-to-date news.  If you can't find what you are looking for --please do not hesitate to inform us of what you would like to see.  We want any suggestions you have because basically it was created for you. We would like to hear from you, any steam to blow off about an injustice, success stories, absolutely,  but I have a question to ask of you ---how many of your clinics do not allow you to take  any benzodiazepines with your methadone?  If they do----how do you feel about this?  Is it right or wrong???  Please send me your comments either by mail or to my email address.and we will post them.  It might just be time to change the rule.  Let me hear  what you want.

I want to share with you some of the latest research on             addiction. It is simply hard to believe for me because it was what    I thought to begin with. They are on the right trail --it simply won't  be long; it is so exciting for me to know I couldn't quit using simply because I had a weak will ---just read it and let me know  what you  think of the article. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.

.                          MORPHINE APPARENTLY IN YOUR HEAD

Then all humans are naturally and inherently in violation of current drug laws.    And since the human body is the means of transportation of a scheduled drug, it  is subject to forfeiture.  In other words, according to US law, all human beings are criminals and subject to arrest and forfeiture of their bodies. -===Bill Allyn

Several persistent researchers finally have proof for a theory they have held for over a  decade, despite dissent from the larger scientific community:  Morphine occurs  naturally  in the human brain.   

Most scientists have been skeptical of the claim, saying previously studied samples  were likely contaminated with morphine molecules.  But a paper published in the September 21 issue of the Proceedings of The National Academy  of Sciences  seems to put the question to rest.

Meinhart Zenk and his colleagues at Martin-Luther University-Halle-Wittenburg in Germany found that human cells grown in a dish synthesized morphine. 

"Without doubt, human cells can produce the alkaloid morphine, " Zenk wrote in his paper. "The studies presented here serve as a platform for the exploration of the function  of the 'endogenous morphine' in the neurosciences and immuno-sciences." 

In other studies, researchers had found trace amounts of morphine and other animal  tissues, but only a handful of believers thought morphine occurred naturally in the brain.   Most assumed it came from foods like hay, lettuce, milk, and rabbit feed that contain the chemical.

If Zenk's paper finally convinces scientists that morphine is as natural a presence in the brain as serotonin or dopamine.  It will open new doors for looking at the treatment of pain, addiction and other health issues, said George Stefano, director of the Neuroscience Research Institute at the State University of New York at Old Westbury.

Stefano also has a paper coming out in the October 5 Neuroendocrinology Letters  showing that animal neural tissue can synthesize morphine.

Instead of pumping patients full of morphine .Stefani said, doctors could give a morphine precursor --a molecule that would set off a chain reaction, eventually-activating morphine production in the brain.  Stefano, who has championed the existence of morphine in the brain for years, published proof of such a precursor, called reticuline, in the journal Molecular Brain Research.

The approach could circumvent dependency because it would increase an individual's own morphine levels instead of replacing natural morphine with a synthetic version. Similarly, a drug called levodopa, a precursor, to dopamine, is commonly used to treat Parkinson's disease. 

The discovery could also explain why some people are more susceptible to addiction--they may have a morphine deficiency.  "All of a sudden," Stefano said "(morphine-deficient individuals) take this compound (and) it really makes them feel not   only good but normal.

A morphine deficiency could also be the cause of some chronic pain, Stefano said.  

The researchers believe morphine is created by neurons in the brain, but much about the production remains mysterious.  They found morphine in the limbic   center, which is involved with emotions.        

"That puts this new signaling molecule in a very crucial part of the brain, " Stefano said.  "If morphine is there, it's involved with subjective thinking..".    

Stefano hopes that the realization that morphine is endogenous (meaning it's produced within an organism) will lessen morphine's association with abuse, and increase the amount of research on naturally occurring morphine.  With only about 15 scientists concentrating on endogenous morphine , progress is slow going.

"In science, painstaking trial and error are big part of your life," he said "but it's much harder when most people don't believe you."   

By Kristen Philipkoski                                                    

October 30, 2004

Hello to all my faithful members that help keep our website afloat. It is late tonight but I felt I must say to you "Thank you " for not only supporting our efforts to help you but for helping us by your contributions.  My main concern is you that you are finding the infor-mation, customer service, and the nurture you need to grow from the few, rich, morsels you take with you from visiting with us.

I have been away at a convention learning more about substance abuse, addiction, methadone and discovering the latest research happening to bring back and share with you. I can hardly wait but I am going to say good-night and I will join you tomorrow with the latest happenings. Our crew has returned and is energized and ready to help you just let us know what your needs are.  Until tomorrow-Good Night.    

September 23, 2004

Stay-Tuned For A Lot More Coming Your Way Over The Weekend~~~Guaranteed To Wake You Up And Keep You Going.

Hello, Everyone, Guests And Members:

We have had people calling interested in joining with us. I promise to have it up soon so you can become a part of us. ..and what is us...us is ..Medical...... Assisted Treatment.... and why should you join?  There are very many reasons and since I have been sick for the last few weeks, I won't get off on my soapbox now to start telling you all the reasons why...just to take enough time to tell you... we sincerely care and are here for you 24/7 and our association is fighting on your behalf for quality methadone treatment at your clinic and to end the stigma and discrimination that seems to follow it everywhere it goes.  We want to see addiction recognized as a disease like any other---Is that asking too much???.  We want respect... we are not addicts.......we are human beings in medically assisted treatment due to an imbalance in our brain chemistry.  

   AN EYE OPENER!!!!     

SEX WITH DRUG ADDICT IS LIKELY TO LEAD TO DISEASE

DEAR ABBY: I just read your response to "Nameless in a Red State,"
who asked if she could become addicted to drugs by having sex                    with an addict.

You were correct to point out that it's important she stay away from
people who are addicted to drugs if she wants to stay clean. I work
in a methadone clinic. My clients know they have to be careful who
their friends are. It is very easy to start using drugs again while
in treatment if you're spending time around people who are using.

I was, however, disappointed that you didn't mention that having sex
with a drug addict is a recipe for getting Auto Immune Disease and              many other sexually transmitted diseases.  (I call it the gift that keeps               on giving.) People must remember that when they have unprotected               sex with someone, they are also having sex with everyone that person           has had sex with. Latex condoms are the best defense against sexually
transmitted diseases.

- -- R.N. IN BLUE NEW JERSEY

DEAR R.N.: I'm sorry you were disappointed that my answer didn't go
far enough; however, the woman's question was, "Can I become              addicted to drugs by having sex with an addict?" I answered her              question factually and specifically.

I also heard from a physician who felt I should have elaborated
further. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: In your reply to the writer, you failed to mention the
most dangerous complications of such behavior, infection with
potentially fatal diseases such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or Auto
Immune Disease.  There is a high incidence of these diseases
among drug addicts because of the sharing of contaminated
needles, and they can also be transmitted through sexual
relations.

- -- ALEXANDER N. ZINN, M.D., WINNETKA, CALIF.

DEAR DR. ZINN: Your letter makes me wonder how many lives could be
saved if clean-needle exchange programs were available in every city.
Thank you for clarifying my answer.

MAP posted-by: Beth

All my life people have taken a ride on my soul.  I've  tried through them to fill the emptiness inside.  "Free  tokens,"  I advertised, cranking up my carousel with people jumping on, off, on laughing  as they reached for the ring of my sanity ...Then the machinebroke, I looked for a mechanic to fix me, but everyone had gone....So....I closed for repairs.      Deborah I need some news from all of you.  Send me your views.  Speak out !

A SHORT HISTORY LESSON ON THE PRIVILEGE OF VOTING....

The women were innocent and defenseless.  And at the end of the night, they were barely alive.  Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the thirty-three women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic."

The beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging  for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.  They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her cold out.  Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.  Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the "Night Of Terror" on November 15, 1917, when the warden at The  Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the   right to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail.  Their food=all of it colorless slop-was infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat  and poured liquid until she vomited.  She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So refresh my memory.  Some women won't vote this year because--why exactly ?  We have carpool duties?  We have to get to work?  Our vote doesn't matter?  It's raining?

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie  "Iron Jawed Angels".  It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say.  I am ashamed to say I needed a reminder.

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion.  But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more role.

Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.  Sometimes it was inconvenient.

My friend, Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she walked by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry.  She was--with herself.  "One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie, " she said.  "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use ---my right to vote?  All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did not seek to learn."

The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to  her "all over again."  

HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and DVD.  I wish all history, social studies, and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum.  I want it shown on Bunko night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized.  It is inspiring to watch the Doctor refuse.  Alice Paul was strong, he said and brave.  That didn't make her crazy.  The Doctor admonished the men:

"COURAGE IN WOMEN IS OFTEN ACCEPTED AS INSANITY.'

.      

««««««««The right to vote is an important civil right in a democracy as well as a civic responsibility, and yet many persons who have been convicted of a crime do not know whether they are eligible to vote.  For both federal and state elections, the right to vote is controlled by the law of the state in which we live.  Some states restrict the right to vote for persons who have been convicted of a crime.  This article is intended to help you determine whether you are eligible to vote in the state in which you live, and if so, what steps you must take to be permitted to vote.

What law governs whether my felony conviction limits my rights to vote?   

The impact of a criminal conviction on the right to vote varies widely from state to state .Whether you can vote after being convicted of a crime is determined by the state in which you live, not the state in which you were convicted.

Can I vote while I am incarcerated in Georgia?  

If you are a resident in Georgia, you may not vote while you are incarcerated as a result of a felony conviction.  If you are a resident of another state who is temporarily incarcerated in Georgia, you may be able to vote by absentee ballot in your home state.  You need to consult the law of your home state regarding both criminal convictions  and absentee ballots to see if this is a possibility.

I have been released from incarceration.  How do I restore my right to vote?  

In Georgia, the right to vote is automatically restored upon satisfactory completion of imprisonment, probation and parole. Upon final discharge of all aspects of your sentence, your right to vote is automatically restored, and you can register to vote.

What if my conviction was for a federal crime?   

Georgia applies the same rules whether you were convicted of a federal or a state crime.

What if I was convicted in another state?

The same rules apply for Georgia voters even if the conviction occurred in another state.

What are Georgians other voter registration requirements?

To vote in Georgia, you must be :  1)   A citizen of the United 2 ) A legal resident of Georgia and of the county in which you wish to vote  3) At least 18 years of age by Election Day 4) You also must not be judicially determined to be mentally incompetent.

When do I need to register to vote?

The deadline for registration is usually the fifth Monday prior to an election date.

Where do I go to register?

Mail-in registration forms are available at your County Board of Registrars office as well many public libraries, public assistance offices, recruitment offices, schools and other government offices.

You can also register to vote when you are receiving services at Department of Public Safety driver's license posts.  "Motor Voter" registration  is offered  when you renew or apply for your driver's license.  Registration may also be available at other state service agencies.  Contact the County Board of Registrars office near you to find out which service agencies provide voter registration.

You may e-mail your request for a voter registration form to: sosweb@sos.state.ga.us  

If you believe you are eligible to vote and encounter difficulty registering, please contact the Elections Division of the Georgia Secretary of State: 

Office of the Secretary, Elections Division, Suite 1104 West Tower, 2 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Atlanta, GA  30334-1505  (404)-656-2871(voice)  (404)-651-9531 (fax)

I am only one, but still I am one; I cannot do everything, but still I can something and because I cannot do everything ; I will not refuse to do the something I can do. 

The article below was sent in from one of our members.  I really appreciate you sending it in. I tremendously enjoyed the writing besides we are finally getting responses from members.  I am very proud to post your article Kay Lee.  Thank you. The Director®

People where are you now?  Don't you care about your sons and daughters?     Don't You know we need you now?  We can't  fight alone against this monster."~Kay Lee paraphrasing John Kay

              To The Women Who Care And The Men Who Support Them 

I am a devoted mother and grandmother who is as confused as I've ever been in all my sixty years.

I thought our children were killing and being killed in foreign lands.so that countries we are "liberating" could be free.  But now I see the men behind the men In Washington have assured themselves control of the Iraqi media, military, laws, and so forth.~and only those men will be able to send Iraq's citizens to war!  I'm really confused what those men's concept of freedom and liberation is.

Can someone please explain how we can promote Freedom abroad or tout Liberty at home when everything is being manipulated by a relative handful of men who have shown absolutely no regard for Truth, no respect  for our Constitution nor any concern for the Freedom and welfare of our own people?

I don't understand why these few men, who are obviously playing a monopoly game with the world as their board and a get-out-jail-free card, can send our children to "rescue" other countries when our own tortured country has lost favor with the entire planet for the decisions made by those same game players.  Can someone  explain that to me?

When the backlash of hypocrisy comes around, it is we the people and our children who suffer while the players and their families run for the safety of their bunkers. Yet we are expected to willingly let them use our children as disposal game pieces?

Can you make me understand why-if the men misrepresenting us really want America to survive -why would they use a many-times-failed policy like prohibition against their fellow countrymen? Why would they turn citizen against citizen in a war on the home front that causes more damage than the drugs they purport to save our children--but don't?

Can you tell me why, if they want us to be strong, would they make enough laws to fill U.S.prisons with more of our sons and daughters than any other nation?  Why would they resist abortion, deny the morning after pill, then throw our flawed children into their dehumanizing prisons at the slightest provocation?  And why would they send all the children who survived the pitfalls on the home front into undignified and ignoble battles in foreign lands?

I'm frightened of putting so much control in the hands of these men who unfalteringly go against everything a Mother teaches her children about respect, truth, responsibility, forgiveness and mercy. Yet, we're expected now to encourage our babies to pledge service, not to the ideal of freedom, but to the few who have bought it?

It seems true that if what they were doing was right, they wouldn't need control of the schools and control of the media and control of the churches.

The Washington are about to reinstate the draft so they can expand their battlefields. We are a patriotic people.  If what they were doing was right, they wouldn't need the draft to puff up their armies. They wouldn't be so desperate to get their hands on the babies  we give birth to.

Are our babies to go to bed hungry, forego medical care we can no longer afford, be given inadequate educations, raised by the parents who love them only to be given into the military, social and economic servitude of those pampered and protected men?

There must surely be others as confused by the conflict of their words and the results if their actions as I am. There must be others who want  to stop them from ripping our children from our arms , putting a gun in their innocent hands and demanding they go kill someone, all in the name of the same freedom that should allow us and our children to just say NO.

I am  not a baby-making factory, my children are not wartime fodder and I do not plan to bury them in Arlington Cemetery.  My loyalties lie first with my God, then my children and neighbors, and my constitution third.  I feel no ill- will to the people of the world.  I also feel no loyalty to rich men in fancy suits with silver tongues.  They have never owned responsibility, accepted accountability, nor have they been soaked with the blood of the dead.They leave all that to our children.

I am crying out to the women and the men who support them, mothers and fathers, the world needs you now.  There are men in Washington who would wage wars at home and wars abroad, leaving the bodies of our offspring in the dust without a second glance.

Someone must begin to nurture the world and its wounded children and blinded eyes before those men in Washington take away our God-given need to hold the children we birth.  Can't we band together to protect our children from the chaos and destruction of men like them?  If not us, who?    

It's just as Margaret Sanger said, "A free race cannot be born of slave mothers."     Please visit http://www.wonpr.org to see how you can begin to really begin to protect the children. Contact Jean Marlowe (jean@wonpr.org) for more information on the mothers' efforts.  

Thank You Jean Marlowe for the article and I am sure all of us with children can identify with your feelings. If you have views you would like to share or a story to tell, poetry or whatever~here's your chance. Please send it by email or mail to the address on The Home Page. My E-mail is MATDirector@AOL.COM

Thank you all for visiting our website and we hope you enjoyed it and found what you needed~please share your comments with us on The HomePage.

Until next week _____The Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead!

Deborah Shrira,RPH, CMA  Founder and CEO of Medical Assisted Treatment.

UPDATED:  31 JULY 2005 ARCHIVED
AUGUST 2004 - JULY 2005