Drug addicts said to need 'whole patient approach'

April 10--KEYSER, W.Va. -- Addiction is chronic brain disease that should be treated through a "whole patient approach," utilizing medicine, counseling, behavior therapies and community support, according to Raj Masih of the Potomac Highlands Guild.

"This (substance abuse epidemic) is the biggest public health crisis the United States has ever faced -- this affects 23 million people," said Masih during a town hall meeting at the Mineral County Health Department on Thursday. "This is going to take a community endeavor. The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection with other people."

Masih works regionally through the Substance Abuse Anti Stigma Initiative, a federal government program created to help address the addiction epidemic.

With just counseling and meetings alone, less than 40 percent of people are abstinent from substance abuse for one year, according to Masih.

"With medication assistance treatment (MAT), which is using a medicine to treat a disease, success rates are over 70 percent -- 70 percent of people will be abstinent in one year," he said.

Masih talked about the varying kinds of MAT, including Methadone, Suboxone and Naltrexone, also known as Vivitrol. Methadone is more of harm reduction treatment and Suboxone is a combination opioid blocker and very low dose opioid, according to Masih.

"Methadone is something that is replacing one drug for another," said Masih.

Naltrexone is an injection that lasts for 30 days and it prevents cravings.

"If we can block cravings we have a good head start in treating addiction," said Masih. "The best outcomes for substance abuse disorders are seen in long-term medically supervised treatment of Suboxone and Naltrexone and clearly treating substance abuse disorder as a chronic medical disease."

Treatment also needs to treat the underlying cause of the addiction, according to Masih.

In order to combat the spread of hepatits, the Mineral County Health Department is currently considering a needle exchange program, according to Gerri Mason, a member of the health board and director of the Mineral County Family Resource Network.

Opioids don't just treat physical pain, they also treat the pain of loneliness, the pain of poverty, divorce, unemployent and abuse, said Masih.

"I think it's great that we are doing something finally in Mineral County," said Melissa Clark, an associate director with AHEC West, who lives in Mineral County.

Masih noted that in Allegany County if someone overdoses in the hospital's emergency department that they would see a peer recovery coach.

"We are not doing that anywhere here now," said Masih.

"I think Mineral County could benefit from that as well," said Clark.

Follow staff writer Elaine Blaisdell on Twitter @eblaisdell.

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