Last night on CNN there was a special on addiction. They interviewed a man who was a severe alcoholic who participated in a experimental program 8+ years ago that cured him of his alcoholism. They showed naltrexone as the drug that provided this. It was interesting as a representative from Hazelton also was interviewed. As was to be expected, he downplayed the role of drugs being a significant aid to alcoholics.

On the CNN website (http://www.CNN.com/2009/HEALTH/04/15/ad ... index.hmtl) you can read the coverage and see the interview. Needless to say, I was very excited to see the word is getting out there that this is not a character flaw and "is where treating depression was 30 years ago".

I showed my husband and for the first time since I have been involved with this, I think he became aware of the credibility of this program.

Let me know what you think.

Best to all.

bb

Hi, I tried to link to the site and it said it is not available. Any other ideas?

It would be interesting to read it, Thanks for the info.....

Yes, go into www.CNN and then go to the Health category. This is the way I found it today. Once it gets to the Health site, look into the different headings. There is one re: crack addiction but this is not it. Keep reading the topics ( I believe in the left column) and you will see it.

It was funny because when I typed in the "www..." it should have read "addiction" which it did not once I posted it. I went back and attempted to edit it to no avail. I don't know why. I do feel certain though that you can find it as I had just looked it up 30 minutes ago. Sorry you are having these problems.

Let me know.

bb

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/15/addiction.cold.turkey.pill/index.html
Is this the link?

Bob

Yes, Bob, thanks. I don't know why I couldn't get the "addiction" to type out...

Evidently this has been mentioned on our board before and I missed it. As last night was when I saw it for the first time I wanted to share with all. Sorry to have been redundent.

Bob, I have enjoyed your posts very much. Please keep up the great work.

bb

I've done a little research on the clinics run by the two detractors mentioned in the story. They are Dr. Kevin Clark of Hazleden in Minneapolis and John Schwarzlose of the Betty Ford Clinic.

Hazleden charges roughly $25,000 for their alcohol treatment program (financial aid on a sliding scale). They sell their "textbook" for use by other facilities for $1050. Source: http://www.oklahomaalcoholrehab.com/our-facility.htm

Betty Ford costs go from $4,800 for an outpatient program up to $49,500 for their longest inpatient program. Source: The Horse's mouth (their web site).

I'd say these guys have plenty of incentive to toe the party line.

I SO agree with this assessment - these folks have nothing to gain, and everything to lose, if TSM becomes mainstream. They'd go out of business.

Also, this article wasn't as great as I initially thought when I first posted it. It doesn't promote Naltrexone via TSM, but rather touts it as an 'anti-craving' medicine to be utilized with abstinence. This is totally contrary to the way the drug works. In the long run this type of information will do more harm than good, b/c people taking Nal as a means of staying abstinent will discover it is totally ineffective for the purpose - and have yet one more disappointing attempt at attaining sobriety.

With 35 studies showing that Naltrexone is NOT effective for abstinence based programs, and TWICE that many studies showing that it is highly effective for the vast majority of drinkers SO LONG AS THEY CONTINUE TO DRINK. . .wouldn't you think CNN and other experienced reporters could dig a little deeper than the drug industry's slick PR information for their articles? The drug companies don't want TSM to go mainstream - it's a cheap, generic medicine with little profit potential. So they continue to spoon feed this kind of mis-information to the press, who eat it whole.

Dr. Eskapa,

How can you account for the fact that some people take Naltrexone to eliminate cravings during abstinence, and it appears to work that way for them? Expectations? Different body chemistry?

Placebo effect, probably. There's nothing about naltrexone that should reduce cravings.