This allows for those who are sincere to begin to get a foothold back into a better way of life. Methadone patients that abuse cocaine reduce their cocaine use while on a treatment program, per Borg and Colleagues, 1995 as quoted in "Drugs Across the Spectrum," by Raymond Goldberg. Also in this article, based on practice, methadone can be administered orally, it is easy to monitor, the need for needles is eliminated, and the risk of overdosing is reduced.
Methadone clinics do not attract drug dealers. These clinics do direct their patients to sources where the patients will be able to receive assistance for food, for housing, for job training, and for the completion of their education.
Administering methadone cuts down on the spread of HIV, Hepatitis, and other infectious diseases. It cuts down on crime also.
Where I work there is not a need for a security guard. The staff and the patients have respect for each other. I make it clear to my staff that drug users are human beings too, and they deserve all of the help that we can offer to them.
I hope that this allows some to find an insight into administering methadone as an assistance to those in need, and that the proposed clinic there will stand a good chance to be of assistance to those in need of this service.
The mission statement of the Colonial Management Group does give the goals of most of the clinics of this type that are in practice throughout the country. If this clinic is not allowed to practice in Hagerstown, the citizens will have lost a benefit and will remain behind the times, stuck in the first part of the last century.
A little education goes a long way, especially when those trying to obtain it use it.
Rebecca C. Dawson
Hagerstown
Moms and veal
To the editor:
Mother's Day is a time for honoring our mothers and celebrating the importance of the maternal bond, and happily many mothers will be able to spend this special day with their children. However, tragically some mothers will be prevented from spending Mother's day or any day with their young.
In the U.S. approximately 9 million dairy cows give birth every year and their calves are taken away from them immediately after birth. The female calves are typically raised to replace worn out dairy cows in the milking herd, but the males are useless to the dairy industry and so they are commonly used for veal.
To produce veal, baby calves are chained by the neck in small wooden crates just two feet wide. They cannot turn around, stretch their limbs or even lie down comfortably, and they will live these crates for their entire lives.
This severe confinement prevents the calves from exercising so their muscles cannot develop, and this keeps their meet tender. In addition, veal calves are fed an all liquid diet which is deficient in iron and fiber - designed to produce borderline anemia and the pale colored flesh sold as veal. Veal production is so cruel that it has been outlawed in other developed countries.
This Mother's Day, let's remember the dairy cows and their unfortunate calves, and let's pledge to outlaw the cruel practice of raising veal in the U.S.
Gary Brook
Great Cacapon, W.Va.
