Methadone program a way out for someState's only public treatment system says 93% of patients aren't using other opiates By Diane Knich (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Monday, July 14, 2008
Brad Nettles A client of the Charleston Center of Charleston County takes a dose of methadone. When he tried to quit using OxyContin, heroin and other opiates cold turkey, Ken S. said the pain was so great he felt it in the marrow of his bones. Ken, 40, who chose not to give his last name so he could remain anonymous, said that about a year ago he landed on the doorstep of the Charleston Center of Charleston County, a drug and alcohol treatment program that runs the state's only public methadone program. He had been abusing opiates since he chugged a bottle of codeine cough syrup at 10 years old. And he was at the end of a two-year spree of heavy abuse of prescription opiates and heroin that left him in fear of losing his job and his family. He was so out of control, Ken said, that he physically and verbally abused his wife as his child watched. "My 9-year-old son was scared of me," he said. Ken was so ashamed of what he'd done that he tried to stop using the drugs, but the withdrawal symptoms were unbearable. He found himself doubled over and vomiting in the shower as nearly scalding water washed over him. "It was disgusting," he said. He knew then that he desperately needed help. He remembered hearing that a former girlfriend, who also was an opiate addict, had participated in a methadone program and was successful getting off the drugs. So, Ken showed up at the Charleston Center. It was his last hope, he said, "the last house on the block." Ken said he hasn't abused drugs in about a year. And he takes the methadone only as prescribed. He's rebuilding his life with the help of the methadone program, which includes counseling and regular drug screening. He also is part of a 12-step recovery program. For the first time in many years, Ken said, he can think about doing things to help others instead of simply thinking about himself and planning to get more drugs. He's aware of the stigma surrounding methadone programs, how they conjure images of homeless junkies injecting themselves with heroin. Ken is employed, middle class, married and has never used a needle. He thinks the negative stereotype keeps other addicts from seeking the help they need. Methadone, a long-acting synthetic opiate, has been used to treat heroin and other opiate addicts since the 1960s. Some addicts treated with methadone gradually decrease their dosage until they are drug-free while others stay on it for decades. They don't get high from methadone, and are able to function normally, including holding jobs. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, methadone is a rigorously well-tested medication that is safe and efficacious for the treatment of narcotic withdrawal and dependence. Still, it remains controversial with the public and among some alcohol and drug treatment professionals who believe that only abstinence-based programs are effective. Dr. Jack Emmel, medical director of the Charleston Center, winces when people ask him whether treating heroin and other opiate addicts with methadone is simply trading one drug for another. When it comes to opiate addiction, he said, "you'll find no program that has the success rate of a good methadone program." Addiction to shorter-acting opiates, which include heroin, OxyContin, Lortab and Vicodin, severely alters a person's brain chemistry, he said, while methadone stabilizes it. Methadone, however, doesn't work quickly. It takes many months, even a year in some cases, for an addict's brain chemistry to return to normal, Emmel said. Addicts who attempt to stop using opiates too quickly experience severe withdrawal symptoms and are likely to return to abusing the drugs, he said. Ninety percent of such addicts who stop cold turkey, even those whose withdrawal is medically supervised, relapse, he said. Ed Johnson, program administrator for the center's opiate treatment program, said patients who use methadone fare better. The center's random drug tests have found that 93 percent of patients who are using methadone aren't using any other opiates. And 65 percent aren't using any other drugs. Those rates indicate that the methadone program is more successful than most drug treatment programs, not just programs for opiate addiction, he said. Johnson said the stigma surrounding methadone programs has worsened after some recent highly publicized drug overdose deaths involving methadone and other drugs. Methadone also is used as a painkiller, he said, so it ends up on the street. But most addicts use it only when no other opiates are available. It doesn't give them a good high, but it holds off painful withdrawal symptoms, he said. Johnson and Emmel said the center's staff thinks gradually decreasing the dosage of methadone and becoming drug-free or staying on the drug long-term are both viable options. "A person whose methadone dose is adjusted properly is 100 percent functional," Emmel said. And some people can't get off it, just as some people with diabetes can't eliminate the need for insulin by changing their diets and exercising. The center serves about 250 patients in the methadone program, Johnson said. They are all different ages and come from all walks of life. Fewer than half use needles. Most abuse prescription drugs. The state has 10 private methadone programs, including one in Charleston. The Center's program is self-supporting, and patients pay about $13 per day, Johnson said. That includes methadone and counseling. Without counseling, most patients would likely relapse, he said. Ken says that's true for him. In the year he's been on methadone, he's been "working full-throttle on recovery," he said. He's been decreasing his dosage of methadone over the past several months, and expects to be off of it and completely drug-free by mid-August. Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 32 comment(s)
Posted by MAMAorg on July 14, 2008 at 3:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)
This article is the typical propaganda voiced by the pro-methadone advocates and is far from the reality of Methadone use in the clinical setting. In most cases these patrons are not being detoxed but are maintained on a highly addictive narcotic that has replaced their former drug of choice. Methadone is a Schedule II narcotic on the same level as OxyContin, Demerol, Dilaudid, Percocet, Morphine and others. Withdrawals from this drug have been described to be much more intense and last longer then Heroin. Methadone is currently the #1 killer of a prescription narcotic in this country and you do not have to abuse it to die. These deaths come from clinics, pain management and the diversion from both sources. Methadone is a lethal and unstable drug that is dangerous alone but mixed with many other substances the risk are greatly increased. Death has occurred from a single small dose and nothing else in a persons system. Current research is showing that these clinics are not producing drug free patrons as they claim. Those suffering from addiction do enjoy this form of treatment as their addictive cravings are being fed on a daily basis. After two years of very intense research and spending time with the addicts themselves the results greatly differ from the praise that is often spoke by the advocates. Privately owned clinics are making millions in profits and it is not in their financial best interest to produce a drug free person. In most cases they encourage continued use even when the addict request to be detoxed from Methadone. In all aspects it is replacing one drug for another except Methadone is legal and stays in the system longer so the addict becomes satisfied with this form of therapy. But, if you were to take one or two days worth of dosing away you would see the same behavior they previously portrayed when abusing other drugs. These clinics provide a daily source and often these patrons are abusing other drugs or diverting their take homes from the clinics. It appears these clinic operators painted a rosie picture to please the public but this is far from what is really going on.
Mothers Against Medical Abuse. Org Beaufort, SC
Help Stop Rx, Methadone Deaths and Abuse
Posted by MAMAorg on July 14, 2008 at 3:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
On October 18th, 2008 MAMA.Org will host a Prescription Drug Awareness Conference in Beaufort, SC. Experts from many areas will address this epidemic of drug use as well as the misuse of methadone that seems to be growing as a socially acceptable practice. There are professionals in many area's that have seen what this so called "treatment" is doing. In fact many drug free rehab centers are seeing a huge increase of people now addicted to Methadone. Is this a treatment or are we just supplying another drug to be abused and misued. This also allows an addict to put off ever becoming drug free. Former users of Methadone in these clinics say they had no clue how much they were in a fog while under these treatments until they finally got off of this addictive narcotic.
Mothers Against Medical Abuse. Org
Beaufort, SC
Posted by moonpie on July 14, 2008 at 6:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)
opiates, bad stuff! I know people that got hooked on pain pills and they fight this constantly! Its the depency nature, if you don't abuse the opiates you'll abuse something. I agree with the cold turkey method. This seemed to work (for a while anyway) for people I knew.
Posted by majorjohnson on July 14, 2008 at 7:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Lock someone up because they become addicted to the pain killers their doctor prescribed them? That's quite the typical knee jerk stupidity that comes out of the prohibition crowd. What a sick b*stard. You're probably a Christian and have an I believe license plate too. Every time the socialists make my stomach turn a right wing sicko shows how bad it is on both sides.
Posted by kma71 on July 14, 2008 at 7:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The cold turkey method worked for Ray Charles!
Posted by commonsence on July 14, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There may be some validity in the criticism of the harm reduction model that this program uses but not of the program staff. Dr. Emmel and Ed Johnson are not part of the "pro methadone crowd" but are professionals who spend their days working with an extremely difficult population trying to help improve the lives of people the rest of society have given up on. While I am part of of the "abstinence only crowd", I would rather have these 250 addicts involved in this program and seeing some success than having them on the streets continuing there addictive lifestyle with no support.
Posted by farfallaspeaks on July 14, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My friend died on an overdose of Methadone that his doctor gave him. The autopsy revealed he only had methadone in his system. Methadone, IMO is just a legal narcotic that is big business for the Pharmaceutical Companies.
The doctor said, "I guess the dose I gave him was too high."
That was all...
I just wanted to share with you all what I know happens.
I could tell you some more stories about how my friends died, and some almost died, of side effects from drugs prescribed to them by their doctors, but I'll leave that for another story.
I've found that the drugs prescribed by doctors are just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than street drugs.
Our society really needs to take a good look at what the war on drugs is doing to our country. I'm not exactly sure what the solution is, but I can tell you that what we are doing is NOT working, if the problem and the drug gangs are just getting worse and more violent.
Our society is very hypocritical. Antidepressants, which are extremely dangerous, and must be taken for the rest of your life are spread around in our society like candy. So is riddlin and aderol, and other drugs that you can't stop taking without medical supervision. Children are being drugged more than ever so that they can sit still in class. They don't even have a choice, and they are screwed up forever.
I'm going to leave it at that. There is a lot of information out there. Do some research. Also, look at the benefits of marijuana. You'll find that it's a miracle herb that cures everything, with no side effects and no addiction. It saved me during a time of horrible depression, and I just thank God that nobody ever tried to give me antidepressants, which at that time, I may have taken out of desperation. It also helped me focus in class, and I thank that magical herb for finding a zest for academics, and thus going from a D student, to a straight A student, which put me at the top of my class and got me the great job that I have today. Yes, MARIJUANA saved my life.
Posted by meesta_challie on July 14, 2008 at 10:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Yes, these programs do substitute one drug for another,
but at least these people are taking steps in the right direction.
Next, they need to learn to substitute LIVING for getting high.
That's where a lot of people fail.
The social life of addicts is completely focused on
getting high and hanging out.
Posted by BillytheKid on July 14, 2008 at 10:49 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Just where is this "room" you want to "lock" these people up at?
A program that is having success you blind bastards criticize only because of your prejudiced!
Posted by drp7773 on July 14, 2008 at 11:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My ex brother in law (dead now OD) and his friend was in this program They would be the first to tell you , it was a free fix inbetween their street fix. Most go into this with good intentions but most I did not say all fail at it. Like CB said earlier. locked up , cold turkey then choice is really the most effective way.
Posted by grace55 on July 14, 2008 at 11:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How can you be so judgmental about someone who is dependent on a drug? If it were your Mother,Father,Brother,Sister,
or child would you still want them to be locked up and let them suffer so badly they wished they were dead, or would you want them to get any kind of help they could to help them break the cycle of addiction? Being a nurse, I have seen people go through withdrawls from opiates, and it is very hard to watch. It doesn't matter what brought them to this point, what matters is they are reaching out for help and Methadone is there to help them. Methadone can be used for short term help or for others, long term. And it helps them to lead productive lives. There always has been and always will be people who use the system, but for the vast majority of those who don't, and do build their lives back, Methadone maintainance is a viable alternative. If you read the statistics, Methadone vs. cold turkey, the people who chose methadone are still clean, whereas the people who went cold turkey are not. This is the nature of the disease. The chemical make up in their brains has been altered, so they need a chemical replacement to help them start to produce the chemical needed on it's own again. All drugs have the potential to kill a person, and when this happens it is a very big tragedy. When you are prescribed a drug, do research on it before you take it so you know the risks involved. Even then, it may still have a deadly interaction with some. But to say all addicts need to be locked up and let go, is heartless and very cruel.
Posted by melis11577 on July 14, 2008 at 11:56 a.m. (Suggest removal)
over 32% of the Methadone deaths in 2004 were METHADONE ONLY ....A University of Oregon study revealed that Methadone kills at therapeutic levels.
Methadone is now the #2 KILLER DRUG in the US, only 2nd to cocaine and killing MORE then HEROIN, OXYCONTIN, HYDROCODONE etc....
Methadone is also a popular street drug in itself.
There were over 4600 Methadone related deaths in 2005...and this number is only increasing
www.harmd.org
Helping America Reduce Methadone Deaths
Posted by Xnavykat on July 14, 2008 at 11:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't think methadone alone is the answer. While it may be of great help, therapy and sober living programs are needed in addition to the methadone.
Ray Charles was in the minority...not many addicts are able to go "cold turkey".
Addiction is a disease whether it's to gambling, sex, drugs, alcohol or otherwise. It's a tough one to beat.
Posted by Lovely_One on July 14, 2008 at 11:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My father is a drug addict and I would rather see him locked away and not be able to get to the drug than to see him going through and putting my mother and siblings through what they are enduring now. I just don't get the concept of using a drug to fight a drug. Even if prescribed. My mother went through a spell when she was on medication for her epilepsy and wound up in the ICU for weeks because the doctors prescribed her so many different meds. Some of them were for the epilepsy and others were to counter the effects of the first drugs. All of the different meds poisoned her system and she was unconscious for days. To me that is a very dangerous game to play. Or course I am just speaking from a layman's perspective, but that is just the way it looks to me.
Posted by 512c on July 14, 2008 at 12:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Actually, it can kill if you go through withdrawal in a room, in some. cases, depending on the drug. Even with drugs that don't kill everytime you withdrawal, if you attempt withdrawal, on a weak system, you can die.
But, from what I have read from most of the trolls on this comment forum, they could care less if a person dies.
Posted by mlsswann on July 14, 2008 at 12:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It is about time that we see a real story about a real methadone patient. This is just as true for me, although I have been totally clean since the day I stepped into my Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program. And that is just what it is- "maintenance". I am going on 5 yrs as an addiction survivor thanks mainly to Methadone Treatment, and my counseling that goes along with it. I do not even crave any other illicit drugs at all. It has not only helped with my opioid cravings, but in actuality it has also helped with my cocaine cravings and every other drug I used within the 12 years of abusing drugs every single day. I was self-medicating myself for a Bi-Polar disorder...and it got way out of control.
I tried 6 different impatient treatment centers, one of which was the Caron Foundation, and many, many, outpatient treatment centers and within all of these types of treatment, the ONLY treatment that has helped is the Methadone Maintenance Outpatient Treatment facility.
I did get off of Methadone once, and thought I could stay drug free without the medication...however, after 3 Overdoses (none including the drug/medication "Methadone"...why would I party with Methadone if it doesn't get me high?) I finally decided, along with my doctor, that I needed to get back into the outpatient treatment facility....a place most people, including MMT patients, refer to as the "Methadone Clinic".
Methadone has SAVED My Life! My Family would have never gotten to know the grown up version of me, if it weren't for Methadone. People such as me have a very hard time understanding why - "WHY" people want to make this Medication seem like a poison and seem so deadly?
Honestly, when taken as prescribed, Methadone does absolute wonders!!
Many people abuse things - especially teenagers and young adults...and usually the drug, or medication "of the decade" changes and they start taking something else. The same thing is going to happen with Methadone,I am sure. In the next few years there will probably be a new drug that everyone will be talking bad about. In the meantime, we need to get the real truth out there about our medication that saves our lives! METHADONE SAVES LIVES. METHADONE SAVED MY LIFE!
Posted by farfallaspeaks on July 14, 2008 at 1:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
miswann, you wern't prescribed a deadly dose of methadone, my friend was. Perhaps it was the doctor's fault? I don't know.
All I know was heroin didn't kill my friend, methadone DID.
Posted by Larz13 on July 14, 2008 at 2:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
farfalla-
it doesn't say much about your choice of friends and/or your lifestyle.
Posted by farfallaspeaks on July 14, 2008 at 3:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Larz13, I have all sorts of friends. For all you know, I may be your friend, or the friend of your friend.
My friend who was killed from Methadone got into heroin years after I met him. As for my lifestyle, you would WISH you had my life if you got to know me.
Off the topic, there is something to be said about the fact that medical methadone (which is addictive and is lethal) is legal, and medical marijuana (which is proven to cure people effectively without addiction or fatalities) is NOT!
(At least according to Congress, several States have legalized it's use for Medical purposes).
Well, I won't explain to you why that is, but you can research it.
Posted by BigSargeofSC on July 14, 2008 at 4:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Poor old drug users, what a pity. They make the choice to screw up their lives then expect the medical field to offer them some sort of cure. Hey, try this cure: Don't start in the first place. If you do, your on your own to break the habit. Doctors have much more important issues to concern themselves with than an idiot who lacked the sense God gave a rock to leave drugs alone. No matter what spin, twist, opinion, or any other manner speach you put on this issue, it will always come back to a single choice: do it or don't do it. Choose wisely.
Posted by berthelot on July 14, 2008 at 5:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gadsen is right, but I would like to take it one step further. The drug problem in this country is actually two problems.
1) Addiction to drugs (demand).
2) A violent black market created by the prohibition of drugs (supply).
If drugs were legalized then (as Gadsen says) we could tax those users and increase revenues while supplying users with a clean product at a lower price than they pay on the street.
More importantly however we would eliminate the violence that surrounds the black market of illegal drug dealing. Just think about it, these thugs with guns might actually have to get a job when all of their customers disappear.
Furthermore, this would eliminate the need for a "war on drugs" an would free up tons of money for programs that could help addicts quit and teach our children to not take drugs in the first place.
It is an absurd notion to think that by throwing millions of dollars toward a "war" on supply that demand will suddenly go away. If the demand is there be it hookers, gambling or pot, it will be met by someone. If we dominate the market on supply (we would make money rather than lose it) then we can take a serious look at reducing the demand through various programs.
I know everyone is going to come back with "drugs ruin lives". Yes they do, but so does alcohol. I am not saying that the Government should promote drug use, just not prohibit it. Addiction is something best dealt with by family and friends in private. It does not necessitate a "war". Get my drift?
Posted by berthelot on July 14, 2008 at 5:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gadsen, upon closer inspection you pretty much said everything I said. My post was redundant.
Posted by ForPnC on July 14, 2008 at 5:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
How can I put a purifier on the line going to my ice maker?
Is it possible?
Posted by PlainCommonSense on July 14, 2008 at 5:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"State's only public treatment system says 93% of patients aren't using other opiates" yet someone has the audacity to post "Lock the addicts in a room and let them puke and double up in pain until they kick the drugs cold turkey...don't satisfy their addiction with a "legal" opiate! LEARN SOME PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!"??? What's more appalling is that there are actually people who agree!
So what do you people propose we do? Leave them to satisfy their addiction with an illegal opiate gained by illegal means? Now what kind of common sense approach is this? Would the poster and those who agree also support the removal of seat belts and air bags because sometimes it takes almost dying before some drivers learn to behave on the road? Oh yeah that makes alot of sense. You must want to see that 93% hit 0% while we watch the crime rate along with the death toll go up like we've never seen it. And these are the same people that are associated with a campaign that has the expressed goal of "saving lives"???? -It sounds like an odd way to go about saving lives if you ask me.
Posted by lillycollette on July 14, 2008 at 6:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
*
Posted by truth_in_knowledge on July 14, 2008 at 7:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
HARMD states that half of its “victims” took methadone exactly as prescribed. They are unresponsive to numerous requests asking them to release their data or where it comes from. The 32% of Methadone only deaths reported from the CDC does not exist because they do not categorize their death info that way. These groups give false stats....ignore multiple requests for proof of where they obtained their figures and yet people still believe them.
Addiction is now widely recognized as a disease. As a disease it is characterized as chronic, progressive, relapsing, incurable, and often, if untreated, fatal. It is a complex bio-medical psychosocial disease. Neuroscientists consider opiate addiction to be a disease of the brain based on neuro-biological changes that occur. Several modalities of treatment exist, none of which are effective in all cases, most of which are effective in some.
Methadone treatment is controlled and regulated by agencies in both Federal and State governments including the Drug Enforcement Administration. Methadone treatment is the most thoroughly evaluated of drug treatment modalities. Methadone treatment is an effective, legitimate, and safe treatment for opioid dependence. The majority of methadone patients lead a normal life. It is not fair to stereotype the opiate dependent person or the methadone maintained patient.
There is ample scientific evidence that the long-term administration of methadone in a properly adjusted dose to a tolerant individual results in absolutely no physical or psychological impairment of any kind that can be perceived by the patient, observed by a physician, or detected by a scientist. More specifically, there is no impairment of balance, coordination, mental abilities, eye-hand coordination, depth perception, pyscho-motor function, or moral judgment.
In short, there is absolutely no medical, ethical, moral, or legal basis for discrimination against any person because of their disease or the treatment of that disease. In many ways the methadone maintained person can offer better assurances of on-going sobriety and abstinence than many other individuals that are not being supervised and monitored with regular random urine drug screens.
Posted by farfallaspeaks on July 14, 2008 at 8:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree with Berthelot and Gasden.
We can learn a lot by looking back into history to see what happened during Alcohol prohibition.
Also, the idea of medical Marijuana being illegal, while other deadly drugs ARE legal makes people lose all respect for drug laws because of the stupidity behind them.
Just like what alcohol prohibition did. Same thing. It's all connected. As soon as alcohol was prohibited in the 1920's, all of a sudden millions of people became criminals. They lost all respect for the law.
Well my point is not very well written, but I gotta go.
Posted by farfallaspeaks on July 14, 2008 at 8:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
truth in knowledge.
who is providing this scientific evidence, the pharmaceutical companies?
You're not listening to me. methadone killed my friend. methadone killed my friend.
not heroin, methadone.
nothing in his system but methadone.
Have you ever taken methadone? It DOES f&3ck you up.
This is coming from at least 3 people I knew who were on it.
Posted by farfallaspeaks on July 14, 2008 at 8:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Methadone is NOT controlled. Anyone can get it. My friend was offered methadone when she wasn't even an addict. She just went to pick up her friend's thyroid medication, and she looked like a little punky that day.
Also, if methadone dosage was regulated, how come my friend's doctor admitted to administering "too much", which led to his death?
Don't believe all the bull shi6t the pharmaceutical companies feed you. It all sounds really smart written on paper, but dig a little deeper. Studies done by private groups are a lot more accurate. The pharmaceutical companies are the biggest drug dealers in the world, distributing dangerous narcotics to children like aderol and riddlin, and making hundreds of billions off anti depressants and dangerous immunizations that are not even necessary.
Posted by truth_in_knowledge on July 14, 2008 at 8:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I am curious why MAMA.org and HARMD attack any news article with a positive story about someone who turned their life around? If your goal is to redeem your loved ones death by preventing diversion and statistics show diversion must be coming from pain clinics (supported by research and SAMSHA) then why are you so hostile towards Methadone clinics or anyone that turns their life around with a means other than abstinence? This does nothing to support your cause. Not to mention neither of your loved ones deaths involved a clinic in any way. MAMA Nancy your son got his Methadone from a pain clinic and Melissa your fiance was inpatient at a hospital both deaths were caused by medical malpractice from a doctor. Yet, if you spent as much time pursuing the docs that caused their deaths then and only then can you ensure no one will die the same way as them and you can say you did help to prevent another from dying the way they did. However, your tactics are causing deaths due to people dying on waiting lists to get into a clinic when there could be more if your organizations would stop the protests to prevent new clinics from opening.
Posted by directory on July 15, 2008 at 3:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I beleive that the only way from drug addiction - is the hard way. My husband was a drug addict and he was going to a methadon clinic. I've seen so many faces who went through those methadone steps and 2 months later - they were back for more dosage. That just switching from one drug to another, the only difference is that methadone is legal drug and might help 1 out of millions. My brother- in-law died from methadone overdose, then my husband. I knew from the very beginning that it's not going to help, only the hard way whould make a difference. But talking and trying to explain something to a drug addict - it's like talking to a wall.
Posted by farfallaspeaks on July 15, 2008 at 7:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Gadsden,
You're wrong. Just 'cause it's preventable, doesn't mean it's not a disease.
Heart disease is also preventable, but people make a choice of eating McDonalds, KFC, or any other nasty food chain, and then gaining 300 pounds with no exercise. They know what that stuff does to them. Do you hold THEM accountable?