Hot Topic Roundtable

National Methadone Conference AMTA 2001

Tuesday, October 9th 2 P.M.


Administrative Detox: Necessary Use or Abuse

Joe Neuberger, Delaware NAMA

James DePasquale, Long Beach Patient Committee

This roundtable examined the practice of “administrative detoxification” from programs, and explored the conflicts between what programs often perceive as a necessary evil and patients often perceive as a source of anxiety and constant threat to their treatment.

Should administrative detox even be program policy if methadone is to be accepted truly as a medical procedure? The various issues will be presented in a statement format for attendees to discuss from the perspective of the patient and then the provider. The strategies that various advocacy groups have used to stop administrative detox policies and alternatives to administrative detox will be presented.

The workshop was designed so that attendees would come away with a greater appreciation and understanding of how patients perceive this as a threat to their very existence.

Bibliography

D’Aunno, T. and Vaughn, T.E. 8 January 1992. Variations in methadone treatment practices. Journal of the American Medical Association 267(2): 253-258.

Goldstein, A. 1994. Addiction. From Biology to Drug Policy. New York: W.H. Freeman & Company.

Kreek, M.J. 1992. The addict as patient. In: Lowinson, J.H., Ruiz, P., Millman, R.B. and Langrod, J.G. eds. Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkens, pp 997-1011.

Click Here to download the abstract.


Workshop Evaluation

Presentation Category: Hot Topic Roundtable (1.5 Hours)
Primary Emphasis/Target Audience: Administrative: Management
Workshop Outcome-Oriented Education Objectives:

  1. To sensitize providers and professionals to the patients perception of forced administrative detox;
  2. Various alternatives to administrative detox will be presented; and
  3. Legal liability to programs that arbitrarily use administrative detox as a behavioral tool to control patients.



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