Friend is having trouble getting onto a Methadone Maintenance due to legal issue?

[JackBurton89]

A friend of mine got a arrested a few weeks ago while waiting to get on the Methadone Program at NUMC in Nassau County Long Island NY. She finally got a chance to meet with an intake counselor and he said that because of her open case (C felony Burglary) that she needs to get a letter from her lawyer saying that she will not be going to jail anytime soon.

I just got on the program about 6 weeks ago and I have been clean.

Here is link to where she posted it on reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Methadone/comments/2aj5o8/trouble_getting_on_methadone_on_long_island_due/

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

[cj]

That sucks but it's understandable I guess. Kicking methadone in jail would not be a fun proposition. Then again picking up a heroin charge will not help her case either. Cause let's face it she's it gonna stop doing opiates. Maybe she should just go to another clinic and not mention the open case?

 

[Tommyboy]

The NUMC clinic is very hard to get into, especially since they had to absorb all of the patients from the clinic in Long Beach after Sandy hit. Has she tried the clinic at North Shore LIJ in New Hyde Park?

My only other advice is to follow the counselors instructions. She's right though that it will be a while before her case ends. You're in part 9 for a few court dates (so a few more months) before ending up at Nassau County court in Mineola, then it's still like a year before being sentenced. I have heard that it's easier to get into a clinic fresh out of detox (which makes no sense IMO since that defeats the purpose of a detox) so she can look into that if that's even an option.

 

[JackBurton89]

Tommyboy it's funny you say that. I met her in detox. I had been telling her to get onto it, then I don't hear from her for two weeks and she messaged me and said she had got arrested.

I could not get into LIJ because Long Beach and Zucker Hillside are closed. I was lucky that I went to their detox. I went right from NUMC detox to the clinic, then disappeared for two weeks because I was not sure, but ultimately I started the program and am glad I did.

 

[HydrocodoneXanax]

Nah it's just rational thinking

 

[RecklessWOT]

Nah it's just rational thinking

Not really. Your posts don't contribute anything to this thread. Doesn't matter whatever "rational" thought process this person did or did not have, all that matters is the fact that they are in this situation which is now making it hard to get into the program.

Discussion about getting into programs, not your moral views on how to act smug and pretend to be better than people when in all reality you almost certainly break laws yourself.

If you can't contribute anything relatively useful to the thread please refrain from posting. That goes for all threads on this board.

 

[alteknj]

Yea, when I was in getting into my methadone program, they asked about shit like that. My charges weren't that bad and there was even a chance of me doing some county time. But in that case, I'd just lie to get in and deal with it later if she wants to. But see the thing about my methadone clinic is IF you get arrested while in the clinic and go to jail or are sentenced to jail from a case they will depending on how long you are in for a) keep dosing you in the jail or b) if it's going to be more than a month or whatever, they will detox you 4mg a day. Yea 4mg is a decently rapid detox, but I'd rather have that than nothing! Getting dosed on methadone in jail is a huge relief. Just my clinic does it. The only one I know in the area out of the 3 main ones.

 

[Tommyboy]

Tommyboy it's funny you say that. I met her in detox. I had been telling her to get onto it, then I don't hear from her for two weeks and she messaged me and said she had got arrested.

I could not get into LIJ because Long Beach and Zucker Hillside are closed. I was lucky that I went to their detox. I went right from NUMC detox to the clinic, then disappeared for two weeks because I was not sure, but ultimately I started the program and am glad I did.

I heard it's really hard to even get into the detox at NUMC. The easiest is probably cornerstone in Queens, or South Oaks. The hardest detox to get into is probably Eastern Long Island hospital. I got turned away from there twice for 'not being sick enough' when I was skiing a bundle a day and coming off of benzos after taking them daily for 8 years since I was scripted them. I was 3 days off of valium and coming on 40 hours off of dope when I got turned away from there just because my blood pressure wasn't bad enough. They told me to come back the next day but I couldn't stop that long since I was so sick. Then I tried south oaks detox and wasn't even as sick as I was when I was turned away from the other place but I still got in. The nurse there told the insurance they I would probably harm myself or others if I was turned away so that helped a lot since my vitals still weren't that bad.

I don't know if she can get back in to detox this soon. One girl at my detox was there a month before so her insurance wouldn't cover it that soon again so her mom paid for it (its like 6k or so). What a waste because she left with a guy to get high with him right when she got out. She was trying to flirt with all the guys though, trying to set up a score for right when she left. She looked horrible and had nasty track marks on her neck so I kept my distance from her.

 

[porkchops]

Getting dosed on methadone in jail is a huge relief. Just my clinic does it. The only one I know in the area out of the 3 main ones.

I thought there was only Dorney and 512. Where is this third one?

Don't they both have you covered in case of incarceration?