Last Saturday, a dangerous milepost was passed by 3000 Oregonians: Funding for the state-sponsored methadone program was halted. Recovering heroin addicts will now need to pay for their recoveries themselves.
“It’ll be a can of worms this city is not prepared to deal with,” says Veronika, a longtime methadone client. “To many who have been clean for as long as 20 years, this is a death sentence.”
The problem, say social workers, health experts, and recovering addicts alike, is that taking the methadone away will cause many addicts to relapse; they also predict it will lead to a crime spree, as addicts try to pay for their treatments, which run from eight to ten dollars a pop.
But for the rest of us, the cost may be much higher, says Tim Hartnett, executive director for CODA, a treatment center. “This is extremely foolish public policy. A conservative estimate is that 70 percent of those taken off methadone will relapse.”
Already, the CODA clinic in Eugene has closed, and the Portland clinic no longer can afford to sponsor one-on-one care. Only group counseling is available. All told, 220 safety-net clinics could be closed or reduced.
“It is cruel and unusual punishment,” said a methadone client, who asked to remain anonymous. “I’ve been clean for too long. I won’t go back to heroin. I won’t. I would rather kill myself.”
In 1998, Rudolph Giuliani, then-mayor of New York City, suspended the methadone program, claiming that swapping one drug for another was an immoral way of dealing with heroin addiction. In the months following clinic closures, there was such a significant jump in crime that clinics were promptly reopened.
“The effects will be felt immediately by other health-care systems and the criminal justice system,” explains Hartnett. Drug counselors point out it’s a common pattern that addicts, forced to pay for their treatment themselves, will turn to larceny, car theft, and other robberies to finance either methadone or heroin. Many also point out that not only have methadone treatment programs been proven to significantly reduce addictions but are also much cheaper than pushing people through the justice system or sending them to emergency rooms.
Asked what the police were planning to do in response to the near-certain rise in crime, Sgt. Brian Schmautz, public information officer, cited a grave reality. “The jail is releasing prisoners. There are fewer District Attorneys to prosecute [crimes]. The closing of the methadone clinics is one more situation added to a litany of problems. Each is equally devastating.”