By DAVE PARKS, News staff writer
The Birmingham News, Sunday, August 26, 2007 — Like most methadone clinics, the one operated by the University of Alabama at Birmingham is usually full, but it will always make room for a patient who is HIV-positive.
That's because methadone remains a potent weapon in the fight against the spread of AIDS as part of a harm reduction strategy. It can prevent addicted people with HIV from spreading the disease.
Granville Robinson walked into the UAB clinic a year ago with HIV and a heroin habit. Robinson, 53, said his drug problems started at age 13 when a dealer in Fairfield gave him and other teenagers in the area heroin to use and sell.
"I was shooting heroin in the ninth grade."
Robinson said he had no idea it was addictive, and didn't understand the consequences of using the drug. Robinson said his drug habit and lifestyle, which included needle sharing and unprotected sex, led to an HIV infection that was detected in 1984.
Robinson's life has been a series of drug binges punctuated by periods of recovery and relapse. Once he was clean for 10 years and worked in Atlanta as a drug counselor. But he started using again.
He's spent time in the AIDS unit at Limestone Prison, has been homeless and has made money through a variety of hustles. "I messed my whole life up," he said.
With nothing left to lose, a year ago he decided to try methadone maintenance therapy. It didn't work at first because he insisted on a low dose. He resisted the program because earlier treatment had stressed abstinence.
"My understanding of being clean and sober was to use nothing," he said. "I wasn't getting enough methadone to handle me."
He was still using alcohol and, occasionally, other drugs. Urine tests at the methadone clinic showed that he had a problem. That's not unusual. Studies have shown that it can take up to two years of methadone treatment to wean many people off illicit drugs.
Dr. Norman Huggins, director of the UAB clinic, said it takes more than methadone to get people clean. "We provide a comprehensive substance abuse program," he said.
The program includes counseling, medical exams, social work, employment assistance and drug testing. "It involves helping the individual to change his lifestyle, to address the problems that result from his addiction," he said.
Robinson said that once his medication was increased, his mind cleared.
"I got to the point where I was listening to my doctor and listening to my counselor," he said. "Doc told me: 'Everything the methadone was designed to do it's doing for you. You're not going to jail. You're not hustling.'"
These days, Robinson said, he likes to spend time with a supportive family, and lives a quiet life, even though he is disabled by AIDS. "I'm content with cooking my dinner this evening, watching TV and going to bed," he said.
Still, he refuses to take medication for his AIDS, saying he just doesn't trust the drugs.
"I don't take any drugs. None. I don't want them."
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