by Marty Trese, KnoxPages.com editor
For the past month, KnoxPages.com has reported on the extent of the local heroin problem, how it affects every community, every neighborhood. We’ve reported on the crime associated with heroin use, the burden it places on the court system, the time law enforcement spends enforcing drug laws and apprehending suspects, and the impact on one woman’s life who is now recovering from heroin addiction.
If you are addicted to heroin there is no shortage of treatment options. If you do end up in jail because of heroin, drug counseling is available there. You can also be referred to a treatment facility by the courts. You can also walk in to the Freedom Center on East Gambier Street in Mount Vernon.
The Freedom Center offers Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT). The program is designed to assist addicts with chemical dependency to heroin, prescription drugs and other opiates. It is operated under the supervision of a licensed physician. One of the elements of this treatment is to substitute Suboxone for the heroin. Jeff Williams, Executive Director of the Freedom Center says patients don’t get a high from Suboxone but it can help get them off heroin. Williams says Suboxone is to a heroin addict as a nicotine patch is to a smoker. It takes away the withdrawal symptoms. Suboxone is a strip that you put on the tongue. Another replacement medication is methadone and another is Vivitrol. Freedom Center staff can explain all the different treatments to help addicts get clean. Currently, no doctors in Mount Vernon and Knox County are certified to prescribe Suboxone. But the Freedom Center can refer patients to a clinic in Columbus.
It is recommended that patients stay on the the Suboxone MAT for 12 to 18 months. The program is not for everyone and it is used as a last resort to help people stop using opiates.
There are several criteria that must be met for admission into the MAT program. Those include:
- Attendance at 5 consecutive recovery groups
- Attendance at two AA/NA meetings a week
- A drug screen clean for all other substances except for opiates
- Motivation to recover from addiction as assessed by contemplative stage of change
You can find out more about this treatment option at www.freedomctr.net.
Knox Community Hospital recently added New Vision, a program designed to help addicts break through the cycle of addiction. It is a medical stabilization service for people with drug, alcohol and health related issues. New Vision accepts most insurance, Medicaid and Medicare plans.
Throughout the KnoxPages.com series, Heroin…Knox Addicted, Finding Solutions we have presented the scope of the heroin epidemic in Knox County. Representatives of law enforcement, the courts, and an addict were interviewed about heroin and opioids. All are concerned, but all have hope that this issue can be successfully confronted in our community. Awareness is one way to start to reach for that goal.
The Knox Substance Abuse Action Team is made up of representatives from different sectors of the Knox County community including Law Enforcement, Schools, Health Department, Social Service agencies, Media and more. The KSAAT mission is to engage the Knox County community in building partnerships dedicated to preventing and reducing substance abuse among youth and adults in Knox County. You are invited to like KSAAT on Facebook.
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Links to additional stories in the Heroin…Knox Addicted, Finding Solutions series on KnoxPages.com:
http://www.knoxpages.com/index.php/local-news/1155-heroin-knox-addicted-finding-solution-disturbing-statistics
http://www.knoxpages.com/index.php/local-news/1221-heroin-knox-addicted-finding-solutions-erica-s-story
Listen to the mini-podcast interviews in this series posted on KnoxPages.com.
