Editorial: Loosening the grip of heroin addiction

Wednesday, March 1, 2000 | 9:43 a.m.

Heroin addiction has taken its toll on an increasing number of people across the nation, and Las Vegas is no stranger to the drug's devastating effects. While the nation vigorously has prosecuted those peddling and using drugs, often overlooked is the need for adequate treatment. But it makes abundant sense to first try and rid people of an addiction before they do harm to others or themselves. Fortunately for Las Vegas, a new treatment clinic recently opened to help those who are addicted to heroin.

Dr. Miriam Adelson, who is married to Venetian hotel-casino owner Sheldon Adelson, is trying to replicate the couple's success with their heroin treatment clinic in Israel by opening up a similar methadone clinic in Las Vegas. Methadone treatment has its critics, who contend that methadone simply swaps one addiction for another. But Miriam Adelson, the medical director of the Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment and Research, is a firm believer that methadone works. Adelson told Sun reporter Kim Smith that 83 percent of the patients in their Israel facility stay in treatment for at least one year and that 70 percent are heroin-free after they've spent 18 months in her program, which also includes therapy and other drug treatment strategies.

There certainly is no magic bullet in either preventing or treating drug addiction, but physicians and scientists must keep looking for promising avenues -- including through research -- that may aid these causes. It is encouraging, then, to see Miriam Adelson's dedication to these important endeavors.