With every technology comes a hack, and medical innovation is no exception. Rapid detox - featured in issue 13.01 -éstrips opiates from the brain while the patient is under anesthesia. It turns hardened abusers into drug virgins. Some addicts have figured this out and are undergoing the $15,000 procedure to cut the cost of their habits. "It can make financial sense to someone who can't imagine life without the drug," says Jack Kuo, a psychiatry fellow at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. But it's a dangerous development, says Jake Epperly, the clinical director of Midwest Rapid Opiate Detoxification Specialists. He recently refused to treat an addict who called asking for a rapid reset. "Then I'll go somewhere else," the man said and hung up. The solution, Kuo says, is to make sure rapid detox includes long-term aftercare programs that support sobriety. Otherwise, the procedure itself could become addictive.
- Joshua Davis
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