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amorel's comments:
on Boy Scouts
By the time I was a junior in high school I had been in girl scouts for 9 years. All I had learned was how to sell cookies, push paper and realize that I was significantly poorer than the rest of the girls in my troop. I switched to an Explorer post that was attached to a Boy Scout troop. I ended up leading a patrol of 12 -14 year old boys and 4 other girls. Other than learning how to deal with the stench of preteen boys I learned rock climbing, caving, knots, first aid ect. More importantly when I lead the patrol through Phillmont I learned team work and leadership in ways that still influence my understanding and interactions with others. Even though our troop had a “retired” scout master who would not leave the troop and made the female scouts lives ridiculously harder than necessary (we had to pitch our tent in a puddle one outing to be “away from the boys” per his orders) I would not trade what I experienced or learned. While I hope the scouts continue to learn from this and become more transparent in their dealings, I hope they survive this to encourage other kids to learn practical skills and leadership.
posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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on Cracking Down on Heroin
Methadone treatment like ANY treatment will only give what you put into it. So if someone chooses to play the system instead of reconstruct their life that's what will happen. There are both for and not for profit clinics. Counseling at various clinics is widely different. Bear in mind that most black market Methadone does not come from treatment clinics but private prescriptions. Our clinic runs on a sliding scale with most patients paying 300 a month or less for treatment. This breaks down roughly to $10.00 a day. It is true that there are not many rural clinics. That is truly frustrating. Clinics are all different so I can’t say why your friend though her’s was cruel. But even if you choose to think of them as state sponsored addition just remember that a properly run clinic isn’t getting patients high or handing them “hot doses” that could kill them or perpetuating the spread of blood born illnesses with the use of dirty needles. It’s far from a fix all but I hope this helps you see what Methadone clinics do to help.
posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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on Cracking Down on Heroin
I apologize if this is redundant but as I’ve stated before I work in a methadone clinic. While I can’t plug my specific clinic here I would like to offer some phone numbers.
Crisis Line: 503-988-4888
24 hour resource line 1-800-723-3638
Hooper Detox 503-238-2067
The first 2 can help those who want to stop using find resources. It might be worth noting that it is a state statistic that for every dollar spend in MMT five dollars is saved in the judicial system. It has always confused me that this is the case and yet more attention is not given by government to help treat addiction. I greatly appreciate the Think Out Loud team addressing this topic.
posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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on Mental Health and Homelessness
For what it's worth I work in a methadone clinic. This relates in so much as we deal with a large number of co-occuring disorders. Addiction very rarely comes by itself. We have a large problem with parroll officers allowing their clients to be patients. We get patients to start working on their mental health issues as part of their treatment here. But they have to be patients for us to help them with that process. Stigma has always surrounded addiction but for those with co-occuring disorders it makes getting help twice as difficult.
posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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on Polo's Counter Intelligence
posted 4 years, 5 months ago
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