Rhode Island MAT Patients Celebrate Recovery

National Alliance of Methadone Advocates
Press Release


Contact Person: Joycelyn Woods, President
nama.president@Verizon.net
212.595.nama

For Release:
September 17, 2006

Rhode Island MAT Patients Celebrate Recovery

Reported by Jim Gillen
MARCAP/NAMA
planetcatfish@cox.net

Yesterdays RI's celebration was beyond belief in a good way, from perfect weather to a HUGE crowd. Did I say a HUGE peaceful, joy filled crowd!!!!!

The role that medication assisted patients, staff from clinics, methadone advocates were a big,big part of this celebration. From the band (MAT patients) to the set up and break down crew - first ones in and last ones out.

We painted faces, distributed food, blew up over a hundred balloons, set up tents. I wanted to put the NAMA/MARCAP table next to NA but they came later - wouldn't that just be a hoot!!! Oh well, there is always next year!!!

This event to me is a great blueprint for success - mix it with a big general public event !!! Go figure!

We got our MARCAP first aid kits with phone number and methadone.org on it. If any one wants a few we could send some off.

Sharon Dembowski of NENAMA-MOM was great yesterday as usual and has photos of the event.

Keep the faith!!!

SAMHSA Awards $9.8 million for Peer to Peer Recovery Support Services

Date: Sept 6 , 2006
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press
Telephone: 240-276-2130

SAMHSA Awards $9.8 million for Peer to Peer
Recovery Support Services

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) today announced the award of seven Recovery Support Services grants totaling $9.8 million over four years. These grants to community-based organizations are designed to deliver and evaluate peer-to-peer recovery support services that help prevent relapse and promote sustained recovery from alcohol and drug use disorders.

"Peer recovery support services are expected to extend and enhance the treatment continuum," said Assistant Surgeon General Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H., SAMHSA's Acting Deputy Administrator. "These grants will help prevent relapse and maximize the opportunities to create a lifetime of recovery and wellness for self, family, and community. And, when individuals do experience relapse, recovery support services can help minimize the negative effects and if needed make sure there is an appropriate referral to treatment."

The seven awards in five states are funded up to $350,000 per year in total costs. Continuation of these awards is subject to the availability of funds as well as the progress achieved by the grantees. Total funding for year one is $2.4 million.

The Recovery Community Services Program grantees are as follows:

Arizona

Pima Prevention Partnership, Tucson -- $350,000 to recruit and train a 10-member core group of peer leaders in recovery, who will develop and implement the service infrastructure in four months. Recovery Services will be offered at the partnership's Learning Center and offer peer-led emotional, informational, instrumental and affiliation support services five afternoons/evenings per week, including Saturdays.

Tohono O'odham Nation, Sells -- $350,000 to implement a comprehensive peer-to-peer system to support individuals in recovery with a full range of recovery support services provided locally in the 11 districts that make up the federally recognized tribe, which has one of the highest rates of substance abuse among all populations in the United States .

Georgia

Recovery Consultants of Atlanta, Inc. -- $350,000 per year to provide peer-led support services that help sustain Atlanta's inner city addiction recovery community. The program will provide a recovery center offering more than 40 weekly 12-step, faith-based, health-specific (HIV and Hepatitis C, a liver disease), gender-specific and family-specific support groups.

New York

National Alliance of Methadone Advocates, Inc., New York City -- $349,998 per year to provide peer-to-peer recovery support services to patients of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Methadone Maintenance Treatment Programs. The overall goal is to create a climate for recovery among a population usually neglected by the larger recovery community.

Center for Community Alternatives, Inc., Syracuse -- $350,000 per year to develop a network of peer-lead community services for individuals in recovery and who also have past criminal justice involvement. The project will extend services into two additional cities, Rochester and Albany.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma CART System, Oklahoma City-- $350,000 per year to implement Sister to Sister, the states first model of peer-driven substance abuse recovery support services for women in Oklahoma County. This project expects to serve over 580 women in all stages of recovery and their children.

Texas

El Paso Alliance, Inc., El Paso-- $350,000 per year to enable the Recovery Alliance to improve existing services and support the development of new ones through a peer recruiting and retention system.

SAMHSA, is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions, treatment, and mental health services delivery system.

SAMHSA is An Agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Service

Letters Needed for Our Friend Dr. Shinderman

National Alliance of Methadone Advocates
Press Release

Contact Person: Joycelyn Woods, President

nama.president@Verizon.net
212.595.nama

For Release:
September 7, 2006

Letters Needed for Our Friend Dr. Shinderman

NAMA, patients and concerned professionals have been watching the situation in Maine concerned that a fellow advocate, Dr. Shinderman would be facing serious criminal charges. On July 20, 2006 a federal jury convicted him of crimes relating to prescribing ancillary medication when the jury was instructed not to consider his good faith in relying on another physician’s permission to prescribe. Specifically when Dr. Shinderman began working in Maine he applied for a state license to prescribe. While waiting for the license approval he was informed that it would be all right for him to use the medical director of the clinic’s license. This was all done in the course of treating patients for ancillary medications. The point is that these were extra doctor’s appointments and the patients were not charged. Only a very few methadone clinics treat patients for other conditions and even fewer do not charge for these services as is typical at CAP Quality Care. This demonstrates Dr. Shinderman’s care of his patients; he really treated his patients and considered their total medical care as part of their addiction treatment.

A civil lawsuit filed by the government against the Westbrook Clinic. The clinic CAP Quality Care is owned by his wife where Dr. Shinderman was a consultant.

The media has sensationalized this case because the clinic was a methadone clinic. Several writers have been using the case to write distorted news and promote their careers. This has been at the expense of all methadone patients without concern for the impact it will have on their lives. This would have never occurred if the same thing had happened in diabetes or pulmonary clinic but because the clinic treats addiction it is easy picking for the media and the DEA.

In spite of the support Dr. Shinderman has received from local officials and policy makers he is facing difficult opposition and needs our support.


Now You Can Help Dr. Shinderman!

He needs letters seeking leniency and extolling his good work. This certainly will not be difficult for advocates because there is a lot that can be said about the good that Dr. Shinderman has done. He has helped individual patients and consulted with other physicians about the problem, research that has impacted medication assisted treatment in the U.S. and abroad, his advocacy and support of patient issues and to how he delivered treatment with dignity and respect.

There are four groups of individuals whose letter of support may be particularly helpful: (1) physicians and other professionals who respect his work and can report to the court both about my contributions to the field of addiction medicine, but also how incarceration will negatively impact the influence of this good work; (2) patients and their families who can report to the court about his impact on their success and survival; (3) family and friends who can talk about his good works, good intentions, and good character; and, (4) government officials who can do the same.

No letter should contain criticism of the Judge or the process. They will not be able to use any letter that contains those. The appeal process will address such issues if they exist.

With regard to other letters to the U.S. Attorney General, Drug Enforcement Administration, Members of Congress and other governmental officials, and the news media, each individual or organization should decide for themselves whether they should make those contacts.

It would be inappropriate for Dr. Shinderman to have any involvement because the prosecutor could then persuade the judge that Dr. Shinderman is attempting to influence sentencing with public opinion appeals.

Support Letters should be sent only to Dr, Spiderman’s legal team and if possible a copy to him because he will need them for any licensing problems which are inevitable in Illinois and Maine.


The letters should go to:
Michael A. Cunniff
McCloskey, Mina & Cunniff, LLC
12 City Center
Portland, ME 04101
Phone (207) 772 6805
Fax (207) 879 9374

The letters should be addressed to:
Honorable D. Brock Hornby
United States District Judge
District of Maine
United States District Court
156 Federal Street
Portland, ME 04101



References

Some of these articles are available at:
President’s Blog:
http://nama-president.blogspot.com/

Debate over methadone has value for Maine, Portland Press Herald (ME) August 2, 2006
Page A6.

Clinic's troubles a setback for addicts By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer
Maine Sunday Telegram (Portland, ME) July 30, 2006 Page B1.

Clinic doctor guilty of forgery By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer Portland Press Herald (ME) July 21, 2006
Page A1.

No verdict in doctor's fraud trial By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer Portland Press Herald (ME) July 20, 2006
Page B1.

Doctor defends method of writing prescriptions By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer Portland Press Herald (ME) July 18, 2006 Page A1.

Federal drug agent testifies against operator of clinic By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer Portland Press Herald (ME) July 15, 2006 Page B1.

Witnesses: Doctor gave prescriptions By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer Portland Press Herald (ME) July 12, 2006 Page B1.

Methadone doctor facing prescription-forgery trial By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer Portland Press Herald (ME) July 11, 2006 Page A1.

Methadone doctor argues for dismissal of charges By GREGORY D. KESICH Staff Writer Portland Press Herald (ME) April 29, 2006 Page B1.

METHADONE TREATMENT ENTERS A NEW ERA: NAMA AWARDED RCSP GRANT

National Alliance of Methadone Advocates
Press Release

Contact Person: Joycelyn Woods, President

nama.president@Verizon.net
1.212.595.nama

For Release:
September 7, 2006

METHADONE TREATMENT ENTERS A NEW ERA:
NAMA AWARDED RCSP GRANT

This week the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) announced the 7 recipients of the Peer To Peer Recovery Grants. NAMA one of the recipients is the first methadone group to receive a Recovery Community Services Program (RCSP). The grant will provide peer-to-peer recovery support services to patients of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Methadone Maintenance Treatment Programs in the Bronx, NY. The announcement continued, “The overall goal is to create a climate for recovery among a population usually neglected by the larger recovery community.”

This is a project that NAMA has envisioned for a number of years to educate medication assisted treatment patients (MAT) so they understand why they are taking a medication. While MAT patients are educated at the start of treatment when the message comes from another patient the message takes on a new meaning. This importance of peer services was realized during the early years of methadone treatment when Drs. Dole and Nyswander oversaw the program. However as methadone treatment expanded the contributions that MAT patients had made to the program was minimized and almost forgotten. NAMA believes that “peer-to-peer services” was the piece of the program that made methadone treatment so effective during the first 10 years when methadone treatment was initiated. Patients felt they had contributed to the program and therefore felt an ownership towards it.

Patients Were Proud To Be On The Program!

Compare that to today when most patients feel ashamed of the very treatment that has helped them. They feel alone, no longer "dope fiends" but still not a part of society, and with nowhere to turn for support. This situation is hardly conducive to rehabilitation. Yet the majority of methadone patients have proven themselves capable and successful in the practical world, as lawyers and waitresses, construction workers and housewives, teachers and cab drivers.

Medication assisted patients don’t consider themselves as recovering persons primarily because they have never been allowed too. Recovery is defined as a larger construct then sobriety or abstinence. However, Recovery is not possible without sobriety. Until MAT patients understand that sobriety has nothing to do with taking a medication they will not be candidates to move on to the larger construct of recovery that embraces a reengagement with the community based on resilience, health, and hope. The Medication Assisted Recovery Service (MARS) project will work to change the negative atmosphere that patients experience and replace it with a sense of accomplishment, well being and recovery.

The goal of NAMA’s MARS project will be to demonstrate the value of peer-to-peer services and that when these services are paired with the most effective treatment for opiate dependence, namely methadone the results can only be outstanding. NAMA knows that this project would put a “smile” on Dr. Dole’s face who died on August 1st. The later years of his life were spent working to end the stigma and prejudice directed at MAT.