Re: Alternative treatments give addicts a chance, Jan. 24
Your editorial on treating stimulant addiction seems to confuse methylphenidate with methamphetamine. They aren't the same. Physicians like Dr. John Grabowski and Dr.Fran Levin have been treating patients with co-occurring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD ) and substance abuse safely with stimulants for years.
Although ADHD has a prevalence of four to five per cent in the general adult population, it affects 25-35 per cent of "substance-abusing" adults.
While methamphetamine blasts the brain with more than 1,000 times the baseline amount of dopamine within the first hour, long-acting stimulants trickle dopamine into the brain, at one-tenth the rate, over the whole day. The goal is not to treat the substance abuse, but rather to treat the underlying ADHD so that its symptoms ( boredom, impulsivity and poor planning ) do not trigger relapse into substance abuse.
Long-acting amphetamines such as Concerta do not create a high, are not addictive and are not easily abused. If we want to decrease the homelessness, crime, and prostitution linked to addiction we may have to be more creative with our treatments. The social and economic cost of doing nothing is in the billions. Sam Sullivan's plan may not be as far fetched as it sounds.
Dr. Anthony Ocana
Bowen Island
