Unproven meth, cocaine ?remedy? hits market

[Anonymous]

A drug cocktail that backers say is the first effective treatment for methamphetamine and cocaine addiction is dividing substance abuse experts into two hostile camps ? those who say they have seen it work miracles and those who say it has been rushed to market without any scientific testing.

The strident debate over the "Prometa protocol," manufactured by the Hythiam Corp., is complicated by the checkered Wall Street career of the company's CEO, Terren Peizer, who previously championed an anti-AIDS drug that has yet to make it to market.
...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15310599/

What struck me most about this story is how similar the claims are about this non-Evidence Based 'threrapy' compared to the claims of the BM programs.

[Anonymous]

when i went into rehab for coke they gave me some pill that was supposed to be for coming off coke but it didnt do shit. valium or xanax work just fine. antibuse is a joke.. the whole idea of people not being in control of their actions bothers me. drug addicts like that idea because then they never have to face the fact they are choosing their life... too many of them want to believe the world did it to them.. and these therapists help support that theory.  :roll:

[Anonymous]

You may be right. Another quote from the story:

?It preys on ... desperate patients?
?The marketing is way ahead of the science,? said Lori Karan, a physician-researcher at the Drug Dependence Research Laboratory at the University of California San Francisco. ?It preys on the needs of desperate patients, sets unreasonable hopes and expectations and takes advantage of scarce economic resources.?

Sound familiar?

[Deborah]

The sales pitch is the same. And with 'experimental' therapies.. there's always going to be guinea pigs. They just neglect to inform.