Monday, March 06, 2006
Ottowa Sun
Jessica Weihrich wants people to know that methadone saves lives. The 18-year-old would know. "I would probably (have been) dead by the time I was 25," she said yesterday. "It takes away all thoughts of taking drugs and how I'm going to get them. I can basically start rebuilding my life without having to worry about drugs or think about them," she said. That's why she's troubled by a decision last week that will cut the supply of methadone to a chain of provincial clinics.
Weihrich's powerful story started with alcohol at age 14 and led to a controlling drug addiction. She experimented with PCP, soon progressed to morphine, then started shooting heroin. She used crack, injecting it into her veins. When the crack hardened her veins, she used morphine.
No longer at home, Weihrich slept on sidewalks, shelters and rooming houses. In June 2004, after ending up in the hospital, she decided to once again try treatment (she failed rehab 4 times before). She began methadone treatment for the first time at an addiction program in Ontario. She's been clean since. She feels that if methadone access is cut, many patients will be forced back to street drugs and that is not a solution.