美国国家公共电台 NPR Houston Methadone Clinics Reopen After Harvey's Flooding

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

We are closely tracking a record-breaking Hurricane Irma, the most powerful Atlantic Ocean storm ever recorded. And we're still learning about the impact from Harvey in Texas and Louisiana. The health care system has certainly been disrupted there. As NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports, clinics that offer methadone and other opioid-addiction¹ therapies are just getting back up and running.

REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE²: Stormy Trout³ is waiting for a ride, sitting on a hot curb⁴ outside an opioid treatment clinic in north Houston.

STORMY TROUT: You know, cravings and anxiety, like, it's just treacherous⁵. It really is.

HERSHER: As the city flooded last week, Trout was going through opioid withdrawal⁶ at a detox center surrounded by water.

TROUT: I'm like, I know I can do this, but I just need something to help with the cravings, and the anxiety and stuff.

HERSHER: That something is methadone. But she had to wait until Tuesday to start. Clinics all over the region that dispense⁷ methadone, buprenorphine and other drug treatments for people addicted⁸ to opioids were cut off or flooded themselves for most of the week. The one she went to, called Texas Clinic, was stranded⁹ by water for days. Now they're cleaning the carpets and playing strangely appropriate music in the waiting room.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GOOD LOVIN'")

THE RASCALS¹⁰: (Singing) I asked my family doctor just what I had.

HERSHER: Farrukh Shamsi is the director. He made sure someone was there every day of the storm - and good thing. Some people who rely on methadone to function did extraordinary things to get there.

FARRUKH SHAMSI: They were very creative. We had people that parked five miles away and walked. They started in the morning. They got here really late. We medicated them. Then they were going to walk all the way back to their car so they could get back home.

HERSHER: He says Houston is a gateway¹¹ for illicit¹² drugs, including heroin¹³. And anecdotally, he's seeing something unexpected after the storm.

SHAMSI: What the storm did - it is caused the illegal drug network supply to be shut off. It could not get here, right? So the best thing to do is, why not try something legal? And so this is a good thing, actually, in a way, a silver lining¹⁴ in a cloud - is that people could actually come in here, and get treatment for the first time, and make their lives better and actually get off of drugs when they were maybe thinking about it, but now they're forced to get off of drugs.

HERSHER: Shamsi says this week is a recovery week for his clinic - being fully¹⁵ open, trying to get back to a more normal schedule and handling patients who come from the shelters that are still open.

On Tuesday morning, the mental health team at the George R. Brown Convention Center arrived to find a line of about 20 people.

CRYSTAL COLLIER: These are evacuees¹⁶ who are coming off of drugs for the first time or they've been in and out of recovery before, and they've been using this whole time and now are really, truly detoxing.

HERSHER: Dr. Crystal Collier is a psychologist with The Council on Recovery who's been volunteering at the big shelters for days. She says, for people struggling with opioid addiction who are flooded out of their homes, the shelters can only do so much.

COLLIER: If you're detoxing, or if you need to get a Suboxone treatment or methadone treatments, it's going to be impossible to get it at a shelter.

HERSHER: That's because public shelters generally don't prescribe opioid treatments on site. It's partly because people need to be screened relatively¹⁷ carefully to make sure they're getting the right therapy.

COLLIER: I mean, so many people just showed up with what they had in their hands because it happened so quickly. And so we're having to help people get their birth certificate, or Social Security or a card before we can actually get them into a treatment system because we got to have proof of who they are.

HERSHER: Collier says the next challenge will be helping¹⁸ people who are uprooted¹⁹ and traumatized find the stability they need to avoid relapsing. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News, Houston.

(SOUNDBITE OF TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE DISASTER'S "TWENTY")

1 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 trout   

n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属)

参考例句：

• Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
• We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼，早饭时吃了。

4 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

5 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

6 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

7 dispense   

vt.分配，分发；配(药)，发(药)；实施

参考例句：

• Let us dispense the food.咱们来分发这食物。
• The charity has been given a large sum of money to dispense as it sees fit.这个慈善机构获得一大笔钱，可自行适当分配。

8 addicted   

adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的

参考例句：

• He was addicted to heroin at the age of 17.他17岁的时候对海洛因上了瘾。
• She's become addicted to love stories.她迷上了爱情小说。

9 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

10 rascals   

流氓( rascal的名词复数 )； 无赖； （开玩笑说法）淘气的人（尤指小孩）； 恶作剧的人

参考例句：

• "Oh, but I like rascals. "唔，不过我喜欢流氓。
• "They're all second-raters, black sheep, rascals. "他们都是二流人物，是流氓，是恶棍。

11 gateway   

n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法

参考例句：

• Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
• A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。

12 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

13 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

14 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

15 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

16 evacuees   

n.被疏散者( evacuee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Moreover, for multi-exits, evacuees select a exit based on game theory. 在有多个出口时，疏散人员根据对策论选择出口。 来自互联网
• Evacuees wade through flooded area following heavy monsoon rains in Peshawar on Saturday, July 31, 2010. 撤离灾区涉水通过后在白沙瓦沉重的季风降雨在周六，2010年7月31日。 来自互联网

17 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

18 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

19 uprooted   

v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园

参考例句：

• Many people were uprooted from their homes by the flood. 水灾令许多人背井离乡。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The hurricane blew with such force that trees were uprooted. 飓风强烈地刮着，树都被连根拔起了。 来自《简明英汉词典》