Free Republic

NEW YORK - Dr. Vincent P. Dole, whose research in the 1960s established that methadone could be used to treat heroin addiction, died Tuesday. He was 93. Dole had suffered from complications of a ruptured aorta, family members said. A clinician at The Rockefeller University, Dole studied a wide range of human biological processes. But it was his pioneering work with methadone that earned the highest accolades. In 1964, Dole and research partner Dr. Marie Nyswander experimented with shifting addicts from crippling drugs like heroin and morphine to methadone, a synthetic drug far less damaging to the body. At the...

Hundreds more heroin addicts will be able to get the drug free on the National Health Service under a Government programme. Pilot schemes starting in June will expand the number of long-term addicts given injectable heroin if they fail to respond to other treatments such as methadone. Ministers have been advised by drug treatment specialists that the introduction of "heroin clinics" in Switzerland and Holland during the 1990s significantly reduced drug-related crime and other social problems. But members of communities in south London and Manchester, where the pilot schemes will be conducted, are unhappy at the prospect of up to...

East-central Fresno neighbors fear effects of methadone clinic By Jim Davis / The Fresno Bee (Updated Wednesday, November 17, 2004, 10:09 AM) A sometimes emotional crowd aired concerns Tuesday night about a methadone clinic moving into an east-central Fresno neighborhood. About 200 people packed into the American Legion Hall on First Street to express fears about increased crime with the clinic's move to Shields and Millbrook avenues. "Do you see this child?" asked Karen Valpey, 40, pointing to her 8-year-old son, Brenden. "This is who we're trying to protect." Council President Brad Castillo, who organized the meeting, told the crowd...

Joshua Dunbar was described as an exceptionally bright but hyperactive 7-year-old who was being treated with a generic version of Ritalin. On Nov. 10, 2001, he told his mother he didn't feel well. He went to sleep about 2 p.m. that day. When he couldn't be awakened, he was taken to the hospital emergency room in Española. He was later airlifted to Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque. Joshua spent six days in a coma and two months at Albuquerque hospitals. His lawyers say diagnostic tests confirmed strokes and permanent brain damage. In a lawsuit that went to trial late last month,...