Is Methadone The Answer?
Every day, on her lunch hour, Debbie travels clear across New York City to take a little drink, CBS News Correspondent Diana Olick reports.
"It's really hard, I have really understanding employers," she said.
Debbie is an office clerk and a heroin addict who takes a daily dose of methadone to curb her craving for heroin.
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"Of course I would," she replied when asked if she'd still be hooked on heroin without methadone.
Debbie is one of 800,000 heroin addicts in America, but one of only a 125,000 people recovering with methadone, a widely tested drug that curbs the heroin craving.
"It gets people off drugs off, off welfare, back to work and out of a chaotic and desperate life," said the White House drug czar, General Barry McCaffrey.
On Tuesday, McCaffrey annnounced a new federal policy that goes beyond designated clinics and allows local doctors to administer methadone. Also, new money will make methadone widely available. Clinic administrator Eileen Pencer says it solves a desperate problem.
"There are many clinics within the field that have had to turn people away, given the fact that there is an increasing need for methadone treatment," she said.
Government statistics show heroin use has doubled in the past ten years, and New York leads the way in treatment. Thirty-six thousand New Yorkers are on methadone. Still, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani doesn't agree with the drug czar. He says more methadone is a mistake.
"What that will mean is more and more New Yorkers are dependent, more and more New Yorkers unable to take care of themselves," Giuliani said.
McCaffrey countered: "Are we trading one addiction for another? No, I think not. Methodone gives no sense of euphoria. It doesn't leave you a dosing, nodding-off unemployable wreck."
Debbie says it leaves her with hope.
"I want to be a better person. I want to improve my life," she said.
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