Government Subsidized Drug Abuse

As the Fiscal Cliff draws nearer, many conservative talk show hosts have asked their listeners to call in with suggestions on how to cull government debt. I have one that is a real humdinger. In fact, if you cut this particular program you will cut three or more also. Killing three birds with one stone so to speak.

What are you talking about, Sister?

I'm talking about a program that has fallen completely off the radar. It's called The Methadone Treatment Program. Remember that one?

I don't know about how the program is run in other cities, but here in New York City it is run thus.

Early in the morning, six days a week, people gather in front of discreet storefronts (another case of NIMBY – no one wants these places in their neighborhoods) and line up to get their fix. They are each given a small bottle of Methadone, which contains a pre-measured dose, which is to help wean them off of heroine addiction.

They must consume said dose in front of the personnel giving it to them. This procedure is repeated every weekday except for Saturdays where the “Methadonians” are given two doses. One for Saturday and an extra for Sunday when the treatment center is not open.

"Surprise, surprise!", as Gomer Pyle would say.  This is all bought and paid for with your hard earned taxpayer money, folks!

About five years ago, I listened to a late night conservative talk show host interview a doctor concerning this very subject. I don't recall the doctors name, nor the hosts, but I do recall the doctor emphatically stating that The Methadone Treatment Program is one of the biggest government ripoffs there ever was.

Why? The host questioned.

It turns our that people in the Methadone Treatment program are only supposed to be in the program for about six weeks tops. Your doses are supposed to be gradually reduced until you reach the six week terminus (depending on the person it may be less or a little more). By then you should be free and clear of both heroine and methadone.

But the government became more accommodating to the “Methadonians” and gave them food stamps, welfare, medicaid, subsidized housing, and disability. After all, if you are nodding off from your daily fix of methadone you can't be expected to hold down a proper job can you?

The doctor further stated, since the “methadonians” get so many perks, there is no incentive to get off the methadone, or the “government subsidized drug addiction”, as I call it. So people who are supposed to be clean and clear of heroine stay hooked on methadone for 10, 20, 30 years! The bottom line? They get to nurse off the government teat, at tax payers expense “til death doeth them part”. Don't ya just love it?

My proposal is to hunt down everyone of these “freeloaders” and give them all six weeks to get clean or else! Once they are clean, put them to work! If they want money, let them work for it with their own hands. No more public assistance for you! Like the Bible says: “If a man doesn't work, he shall not eat.” Enough of living off the public teat! Save those spots for people who really do need it and can't get it.

One last thing.

About eleven years ago a new lady named Lisa joined our church. We were well aware that she was an ex-drug addict, however, we did not know she was on Methadone.

Lisa didn't feel right continuing to take Methadone after she had committed her life to Christ. So she asked several ladies at the church to sit with, take care of, and pray with her as she went through total withdrawal. After five days she emerged weak, a little sick but victorious in Christ, free from both methadone and cigarettes!

It was a good thing she did this, because she found out she had terminal lung cancer a couple of months later. About two years later she went home to be with the Lord.

Before Lisa died she confided in me that the most disappointing thing was not finding out she had terminal cancer, but the fact that they gave her a tremendously hard time at the Methadone Treatment Center. People (officials and fellow methadonians) kept telling her that she was nuts for getting off, and as a result she would be giving up her freebies.

So this is what it has come to for some people. You are nobody or nothing if your not getting freebies from the government. But, Lisa proved them all wrong!