Maryland Doctor Kicking some ass

[Griffin (OP)]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/dan-morhaim-heroin_us_56b3c342e4b08069c7a69b86

I don't know who this guy is but I like him! He is trying to get 4 bills passed in Maryland, one for poly-morphone medication assisted treatment he wants to pilot a heroin maintenance program, he also wants to decriminalize heroin, make treatment readily available to anyone who wants it, and safe drug using sites where people could use drugs safely under the supervision of medical professionals. I'd move to Maryland for a heroin maintenance program or even if they decriminalized completely so that you couldn't catch a charge for possession.

http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0216/groundbreakingdrugpolicyreformintroduced.html

Unfortunately most americans are very, very stupid and don't want anything to do with helping people. I don't see these passing as it would save lives and money instead of kill people and blow through funds so it's pretty anti-american, but a boy can dream. Maybe one day stupidity and will become a terminal illness and things will change for the better until then I am going to take my done like a good junky and hope these assholes stop trying to save me from myself.

[Chip]

now THAT'S my kind of thinking.

it makes total sense -- let's do it !

[Narkotikon]

It's a nice thought. It ought to happen. It would be best if it happened. But this will fail miserably.

Ohio couldn't even get weed passed this past November. Granted, the ten grower monopoly / big business angle was a bad idea.

But then a majority of Ohioans also passed the related issue that means such a legalization proposal (let alone anything else) can never be put on the ballot again by voters. How?

Within that related anti-monopoly issue was a clause that said Ohioans can no longer collect signatures to get issues put on the ballot.

Are monopolies good? No. But is it worth giving up the right to collect X amount of signatures to put something on a ballot? No, I don't think so.

So now the only way weed will ever be legalized here is if the politicians or other government officials decide to vote on it, which is unlikely.

Or if the politicians decide to overturn that "no signatures" thing, which also is unlikely.

Yes, your typical registered voter is careless and / or stupid IMO. At least around here.

Fine, you don't want weed? Vote no on it. But why do you have to pass the other law that takes away your right? Don't you realize it was in that no monopoly / anti-weed legislation for an insidious reason? 

[Zoops]

IMO, the most significant part of this doctor's ideas involve the use of this new therapeutic agent, "polymorpine" (not "polymorphone" as it is incorrectly spelled in the article) for the use of maintenance treatment. It is an organic biodegradable polymer which releases morphine in a controlled manner. It is given by injection, the best I could tell from reading a few abstracts of a paper that was published on it in 2012 (the full article must be purchased for some exhorbitant fee - which is a whole nother issue with me - scientific papers often will cost the reader on the order of $30 just to read the full article if you don't have a subscription to that particular journal), and releases morphine over 3 days.

Use of morphine as a maintenance drug instead of methadone would broaden the opioid maintenance therapy options available to addicts, and is more often "liked" than methadone or buprenorphine.

This has much more of a chance of being legislatively approved than the idea of heroin decriminalization.

I think what would make things much more tolerable for addicts' lives in this country and others would be if the laws were changed to allow a doctor to prescribe any opioid drug for maintenance, with a 30-day supply being the norm. So, people wouldn't have to go to clinics, could get any opioid drug they preferred (as long as it's not illegal like heroin), and wouldn't have the constant fear of involvement with law enforcement entities. Shit, just changing the law to permit a 30-day supply of methadone would be very significant.

This is a more of a realistic goal than total legalization, which would be my and many others' preference here and other places.

Availability of safe zones where illegal narcotics could be used under medical supervision would be a good thing too, but I think it presents too many problems vis-à-vis police presence just outside the spot, ready to arrest drug users going in, as they could be relatively certain that people going in would be in possession of illegal drugs.

But if all this doctor could do were to get legislation passed allowing the use of polymorphine for maintenance of addicts, I think that would be a significant and laudable victory for our cause. I'd be on board for treatment with that substance for sure.

A slightly different topic raised in the article dealt with the sociology of how drug addicts create more addicts by the manner in which illegal drug trade operates. One user, knowing a good "connect" or "hook" for narcotics will often turn his mates on to these drugs in the hopes that he can score for them, availing himself of a cut of the drugs in exchange for his services. Things like making any opioid available for maintenance would tend to disrupt that pattern of distribution, and thereby serve to mediate the spread of addiction to opiate drugs. Of course, if you knew someone who was getting something like 270 40mg oxymorphone tablets a month for maintenance, you'd probably be tempted to try to convince him to part with some of them, and he might agree to do that, so this paradigm for maintenance would present a huge opportunity for drug diversion, no doubt.

Perhaps this polymeric means of drug delivery, with a depot injection every three days (maybe they could increase the window of drug delivery to something like 30 days with pre-existing technology used in Vivitrol for a chemically similar substance, naltrexone) could be adapted to incorporate other opioid drugs so that diversion would not be an issue.