The Morality Of Using Opioid Assisted Treatments For Cases...

POLICY MEMO #1 TO: Professor Sergio P. Dà ­az FROM: Zachary Clark (.2753) DATE: February 21, 2017 RE: The Morality of Using Opioid Assisted Treatments for Cases of Addiction ____________________________________________________________________________ Primum non nocere or ‘above all, do no harm’ is a latin phrase that is the basis for the majority of medical ethics (expand on that). The question of whether or not heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) or methadone-assisted treatment (MAT) for drug addiction is morally or ethically sound boils down to two key component, what exactly constitutes harm, and what moral view of addiction does one have. In the matter of what exactly constitutes harm, a particular treatment that cares for an†¦show more content†¦The initial reports from 2008 indicated: a 27% improvement in health scores, a 70% reduction in illicit heroin use, and close to a 50% reduction in other illegal activity (cite). I believe that addiction is a chronic disease of the mind and like most chronic diseases, it requires constant management care, prevention. Acknowledging that addiction is a disease will not only help contribute to increased care, management, and prevention but it will also help decrease some of the stigmas that surround opioid addiction as well, which in turn would increase access to more affordable means of addiction treatment. A deontologist would argue that constant care for those suffering from chronic diseases is constant care and treatment because it is the morally right thing to do. For example, one would argue that the morally right thing to do for someone diagnosed with cancer is to provide scrupulous care and treatment to the patient from their chemotherapy dosage and schedule all the way down to their diet. It is because of how I view addiction that I believe that Heroin and Methadone Assisted Treatments should be widely used to help ease the pain of those suffering f rom addiction, Thus I align myself with the deontological point of view. On the other end of theShow MoreRelatedThe Methadone Train And Medication Assisted Treatment1550 Words   |  7 Pagessubstance abuse treatment revealed that methadone was fourth for risk of abuse out of 11 opiate based prescription drugs. Worse, after adjustment for prescriptions, methadone advanced to the number one position for abused compounds. Even more startling was a simple random population sample, surveyed by telephone, which reported methadone as the second most used drug. However, Butler et al. cite a major limitation in that the data examined came from subjects who had entered treatment for substance