Today I was helping a family member complete some paper work required by the state to open a methadone treatment clinic. One of the best resources for methadone treatment is the website bitchandgripe.com.
While reading through B&G there was a write-up on the fact that there isn’t a methadone treatment clinic in Mississippi. And from the text of this, it seemed as though the editors of this site is blaming the state and federal government for all the deaths which could have been prevented by having a clinic.
While reading through B&G there was a write-up on the fact that there isn’t a methadone treatment clinic in Mississippi. And from the text of this, it seemed as though the editors of this site is blaming the state and federal government for all the deaths which could have been prevented by having a clinic.
Okay, lets break this down. It’s my understanding that methadone is for people who are trying to break an addiction to certain types of drugs called opiates but don’t want to (or lack the self discipline to) just quit. In other places on the site the word detoxify is treated as a four letter word.
So, if I’m understanding this properly, citizen John Doe goes and gets himself addicted to some form of narcotic and then decides he wants to quit. But quitting is hard (no lie, with the chemical imbalance and all) so instead of actually quitting John wants to get on methadone. But wait, there’s no clinic in John’s state so John can’t easily get on methadone. So, he must either stay on illegal drugs which will probably kill him OR (gasp!) detoxify. And, from what I read, both of these solutions are ‘wrong’ and it’s the government’s fault that John should have to make this decision.
Granted I’m no expert on methadone or drug usage, but where in the course of John Doe’s events did the state or federal government make John become addicted to those drugs?
While I’m willing to help anyone who’s willing to change, I just don’t get this blame game. Congrats on your decision to try and become a productive citizen again by taking methadone, but face the fact John, that you’re the one who screwed up and it’s not the government’s responsibility to bail you out.
In closing, there’s always times of extenuating circumstances and I’m not saying that methadone is a bad thing. It just pisses me off when people blame the government for their own mistakes.
