NO MORE MADNESS 1

What an outstanding article (“Methadone Madness,” Sept. 27). I want to personally thank you for writing it because it was unbiased and fair. Methadone maintenance is a good thing. Countless thousands of people are leading good, productive lives because of it. I know because I’m one of them. Methadone deaths are not only tragic, but they are hurting our cause. If the public was more educated, though, the vast majority (no drug is totally safe) of these deaths could be avoided. As you know, you can’t get high on methadone, but this is what makes it so dangerous. Uninformed people obtain it and, when they can’t get a “buzz,” take more and more; or take other drugs along with it. They end up going to sleep . . . permanently. I hope you will write more articles about this controversial treatment because you obviously have a very good understanding of it. You also possess very good common sense which is rare these days. Thanks again and good luck.

J.D.

Lexington, SC

NO MORE MADNESS 2

Thank you Mr. Barry! As a Methadone Maintenance Treatment patient I applaud your article published in the Portland Phoenix (“Methadone Madness,” Sept. 27). As a recovering opiate addict who used to be “afraid” of methadone, I can now say that I owe my life to this medication. I wasted many years of my life to the active disease of opiate addiction because I bought the negative, inflammatory propaganda that told me that methadone was a “substitute” for other opiates and that somehow it would harm me rather than help me. As a result of my using the Internet to discover the actual FACTS about MMT and methadone as a medication, I finally enrolled in a program and have not had to take a single illicit narcotic (or any other drug) since the day I took my first dose of methadone. This stuff WORKS! I can only imagine that your article will help many addicts still suffering to realize that methadone is a safe, effective medication, and as a result they may be motivated to seek treatment for themselves. In short — your article has the potential to save lives. One note — you may be interested to know that for many, many MMT patients, methadone has also completely eradicated the craving for alcohol as well. This is one of the little publicized benefits of methadone treatment. Of course, this is not true in all cases, but via the Addiction Treatment Watchdog website message board I have corresponded with dozens of other MMT patients who noticed the same effect once they stabilized on a therapeutic dose. Again, thank you for having the courage and the open mindedness to write an article that is based upon facts rather than the misleading, closed-minded, unscientific and skewed rhetoric propagated by those that cling to the completely erroneous and illogical belief that methadone is somehow creating more problems than it solves.

Renee Willis

Cape Elizabeth

MAKE THEM READ

Your interview with Russ Christensen (“Preemptive Strikes,” Sept. 27) presented an incomplete picture of world politics. It totally ignored the Islamic fanaticism that threatens us all through brainwashed hatred of the West. Instead, we hear more of the tired old socialistic propaganda that blames capitalism for all the world’s ills.

Mr. Christensen apparently used to teach and you asked him what he’d ask of students today. “Make them read,” he answered. That’s a fine idea. How about starting with The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 47-49, by Benny Morris?

Mr. Morris’s book is based on documents declassified by Israel, USA, and England. He wanted to use Arab government documents, but dictatorships don’t even allow their own citizens access to their documents.

The students would learn that Islamic wackos have been murdering anyone close to moderate in Arab countries for a very long time. They would learn that Arabs tried to enact a Middle East version of the holocaust.

Saddam Hussein is a mass murderer who has repeatedly stated his goal to go down in history as the one who destroyed the Jewish state. His terrorist friends hate we Americans at least as much as the Jews are hated.

Hussein is trying to get nukes and almost succeeded at least once. He has already killed over a million people with weapons of mass destruction. These are absolute facts.

Sure, we use too much oil, SUVs are stupid, and we use our military to protect our over-reliance on oil. We also use our military to protect ourselves from the Islamic murderers who are actively trying to kill as many of us as possible. If we never used another drop of oil again, they’d still be trying to kill us because they hate freedom. They hate civilization itself, for pity’s sake.

Finally, what’s that nonsense about “Everybody has given up nukes except us and Russia”? I wish you were correct, but of course, once again, you are totally mistaken. Start with France, nukes are their main source of power. It’s pitiful, but true.

John A. Dow

Scarborough

TATTOO YOU

In this year’s “Best Reader’s Poll,” I couldn’t help but notice that in the “Shopping” list, you included “Tattoo Parlor.” I have two points here. First, I’m sure I speak for almost any tattoo artist in the business when I say that we have worked long and hard to establish tattooing as the art form that it is, and as such, the most personalized and committed art form in existence. If anyone has any doubts about that, all you need to do is thumb through any number of tattoo magazines at most bookstores. I humbly suggest that anyone who puts a tattoo on the errand list, next to changing the oil in the car and picking up Pampers, should truly rethink the permanent responsibility of what most of us think is a rite of passage, which should be given a considerable amount of thought.

In the meantime, for future reference, I hope you all consider moving it over to the “Art” category for next year’s poll. Also, when I started tattooing 25 years ago, we were fighting the same pre-conceived negative image, and we all called our businesses “tattoo studios” or even “shops,” rather than the ancient “tattoo parlor” listing that you used. Even though your publication seems young, alternative, and hip, the stereotypes never die. Thank you.

Bill Thomas

Saco