Mar 26, 2016 2 min read

In response to the March 19 article, “Second County Methadone Clinic Opens in City,” I feel the need to clarify one particular fact.

Quite simply put, abstinence-based recovery does work. Numerous studies have been conducted that attest to this fact. Twenty-three million Americans live in long-term recovery – abstinence-based recovery. In Washington County, every day of the week, you will find more people gathered in abstinence-based, 12-step meetings than you will find in any waiting room of a methadone clinic.

Methadone is drug replacement therapy. It has been the mainstay of the harm-reduction philosophy for the last 50 years. That is not to say that, in certain circumstances and for some individuals, medication-assisted treatment isn’t the most appropriate clinical course of action. But a methadone clinic is not a panacea, which is how it is portrayed in the article.

Addiction is a public health crisis. Those afflicted should seek an expert to conduct a level of care assessment and connect them to the most appropriate treatment for their situation. People can and do recover.

Erich Curnow

Washington

Curnow is the director of clinical and case management services for Washington Drug and Alcohol, Inc.