ABikerSailor
Diamond Member
There is no timeline for treatment, only what the junky is "comfortable" with. Newsflash, junkies are incapable of handling discomfort. If that wasn't true, they'd just get their ass through 3 days of misery and move on. Detoxing from dope is rarely fatal. Happens with alcoholics all the time, most of them don't need special centers for months of treatment to get their shit together.
Hate to tell you, but detoxing from opiates is not quite as easy as you think. And, you said that detoxing is rarely fatal. Hate to tell you, but you're wrong. If a person has been heavily drinking for a long time (over 6 months), and then suddenly stops? They can die from heart attacks. Sorry, but detox can occasionally be dangerous. How do I know? I was a Drug and Alcohol Program Advisor for the Navy the last 8 years of my career, and also did volunteer counselor work at Fall River MA and Newport RI rehabs.
Alcohol detox yes, opiate detox no. Opiate detox is rarely life threatening.
Build opiate detox into a monster it isn't, continue addidng to the problem. 3 days of discomfort, plain and simple. That is the price to escape. The problem is the people being asked to pay that price are in their circumstances because they cannot, specifically, deal with discomfort. Whether thats physical, mental or circumstance, they often struggle with discomfort. Its why they turn to pills in the first place.
So your work "helping" the "victims" prolong their addiction with more opiates (thats all methodone is, biologically) accomplished what? Why do we give unlimited free narcan? Most families would be better off without the burdens and guilt, and the affected children of these "people" get damaged more by the day. The current "treatment" for opiates is to give them their drugs and wait until they "are ready" to kick the habit. The problem is, the nature of physical addiction means you will never be ready to end your havit if you have a continuous, less stigmatized, court applauded, supply of pharma produced heroin.
In your first statement you said that opiate detox isn't dangerous, and then said that alcoholics do it all the time with no problem. I pointed out that detoxification from alcohol can be dangerous, depending on the amount used. You then backed down from your claim on alcohol and now admit it is dangerous.
You also said that detox from opiates is only 3 days. No, it's not, it's more like a week, and if it is done outside of a medical facility, not only can it be dangerous for the person, but it also increases their chances of relapse, which is why opiate addiction is so bad. Read up on it..................
Opiate Withdrawal Timeline | Opioid Withdrawal Symptoms
Opiate drugs, including prescription opioid painkillers and heroin, can produce withdrawal symptoms just hours after the last dose, and the symptoms can last for a week or more. Unassisted withdrawal may not be life-threatening, but it can lead to relapse. Medications and therapy, accessed in medical detox, may make relapse less likely.
Withdrawal symptoms include:
- Nausea
- Muscle cramping
- Depression
- Agitation
- Anxiety
- Opiate cravings
As far as what I did at the detox facilities? I was a volunteer counselor, not a medical doctor, so I would have had zero to do with administering methadone. I did do 12 step work with the addicts, as well as was there to help with counseling and helping them figure out why they turned to dope in the first place.
And yeah, you're right, methadone is a crappy detox treatment for addicts. Most of them call methadone "liquid handcuffs", as most kinda replace their opiate addiction with methadone dependency. And, that is why recovery rates for opiate addicts remain in single digits with current treatment.
I was watching VICE channel, and they have a program called "Weediquette", which discusses the various ways that people are using marijuana. In VT, there is a group that is treating opiate addicts with marijuana edibles, smoke, and oils. Why? Because a person coming down from opiates is jittery, nervous, nauseated, and has muscle and joint pain. Know what a really good Indica does? It makes you hungry, calms you down enough so you can sleep, and helps with joint and muscle pain. They have had around a 60 percent success rate with it so far. And the best part? Cannabis is not physically addictive in any way, so when they finally get far enough away from opiates where they don't feel like they will relapse, they can stop marijuana cold turkey if they want.