An Interview with Abbye Silverstein, LAc, DiplAc and AcuDetox

QUR: How did you first get started treating addiction?

AS: In the 80s, I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area working as an addictions counselor in a 60 day residential treatment facility. Most of the patients were court-mandated for a variety of drug offenses. The program was based on a social model of recovery, meaning that the first 30 days were group and individual talk therapy, AA meetings, and recreation. The recreation included yoga, exercise classes, and walks. I introduced a guided meditation/relaxation class. The patients were resistant, belligerent, angry and toxic. Even though they had “initially detoxed” from their drug usage, their cells and brain chemistry were still addicted.

I did some research and found that acupuncture helps with the recovery process. In fact, I found an article about Eric Clapton kicking his heroin addiction with acupuncture. While working as a counselor, I found an acupuncturist in Corte Madre, California, who wanted to administer acupuncture at the facility, but nobody wanted to listen to us. So we didn’t do it, and the patients would leave and relapse, get re-arrested and come back. It was a revolving door. It was frustrating for me and disheartening for the patients.

In 1998, as a student at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, Maryland, (now known as Tai-Sophia in Laurel), I did a four month internship at the Baltimore Women’s Detention Center. I treated women incarcerated for drug offenses who had chosen the acu-detox program as part of their sentencing. Working in a minimum security locked facility was an eye-opening experience for me. The women received the NADA Protocol five days per week for 90 days, a total of approximately 60 treatments. I witnessed their metamorphosis during this process and became convinced that this acu-detox treatment worked more completely than the talk therapy I did years ago.

QUR: Why do you think governments are looking for acupuncture to help with social problems?

AS: Larimer County Colorado is suffering from a huge methamphetamine problem. Meth is an insidious drug that is manufactured using common household products. Larimer County created a coalition of agencies including the department of human services, departments of health, probation, community corrections, drug courts, treatment facilities, and concerned citizens and business people all working together to create solutions for the “meth problem.” The treatment facilities consist of all talk therapy and do not address the central nervous system and neuro- transmitters involved in the addiction process whereas the acupuncture/NADA Protocol does. The county was looking for a cost effective treatment to reduce the relapse and re-arrest rates and increase the completion of treatment programs. Acupuncture/NADA does fit these goals!

QUR: Is AOM treatment working better than other approaches? If so,why?

AS: Traditional therapy for addiction recovery has been talk therapy. Acupuncture for addiction recovery is an inclusive treatment because it treats the body/mind/spirit. Each of the five points (Shen Men, Sympathetic, KI, LV, LU) addresses all three levels of healing (body, mind, & spirit). Talk therapy is designed to address psychological patterns that have kept the patient stuck in the same behavior. Acupuncture allows the patient to be physically, emotionally, and mentally able to listen, understand, focus, and respond to talk therapy because the detox symptoms (cravings, insomnia, anxiety, depression, body aches, indigestion, short attention span) are relieved.

QUR: How did you get yourself involved with local government approaches to addiction? Was it difficult?

AS: I tried in Montgomery County, Maryland, and got as far as the assistant to the sheriff. They were not interested because Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest counties in the country. I met with a very enthusiastic administer in Boulder County, Colorado, but it didn’t materialize. Why it didn’t happen in Boulder, I don’t know. Funding is an important ingredient as well as commitment on the part of the probation and drug court. Larimer County called me. I networked in many circles when I came to Boulder 2 ½ yrs ago, and it finally paid off. A retired acupuncturist in the Coalition in Larimer County found me through the acupuncture community. She graduated from Tai Sophia seven years before me and referred me to the probation supervisor who spearheaded this acupuncture recovery program. Like me, he grew up in the Bronx. In this case, fate brought me to Larimer County, Colorado, to do this work! Yes, otherwise is it difficult with no track record and no connections. It is difficult to get someone to listen to you and even then, you need a “point person” in the system directing the project. I was lucky to have this in the ex-New Yorker probation supervisor.

QUR: At what level of government does funding for drug treatment originate?

AS: All funding begins at the federal level. A state is allotted money for treatment, incarceration, probation, and parole. The governor and legislature decide how the funding will be used. In Colorado, Governor Ritter was the former attorney general and believes in drug rehabilitation treatment, so this program has been funded since March, 2007.

QUR: How did you first approach government officials?

AS: Les Rudner, the probation supervisor, coordinated all three meetings with the county. At the first meeting, I met with the probation officers and chief of probation. At the second meeting, I met with treatment providers, probation officers, and the DA. The third meeting consisted of the chief of probation, the Department of Human Services and health managers, court magistrates for adults and juveniles, two drug court judges and the community corrections manager. At all three meetings I gave a PowerPoint presentation explaining the benefits, history, procedure, and process of a NADA program.

QUR: How political is that process?

AS: Very! It is about whom you know, who your contact knows, and the timing because the problem is out of control, and the county/state agencies are overwhelmed.

QUR: What happens when people leave jail after a drug conviction?

AS: In Colorado, they can go to the halfway house. There are halfway houses throughout the state. Some go on parole and are monitored by wearing ankle bracelets. They need to change their lifestyle—everything: friends, jobs, housing, mental and spiritual beliefs and behaviors. It is a complete overhaul, and it takes a huge commitment on their part to stay clean and sober. It is difficult for someone who has not served time, and it is many more times as difficult for someone who has served time, because the criminal justice system regulates every facet of their lives.

QUR: How do you envision acupuncture as a means of public health?

AS: For acupuncture to become mainstream, we must be recognized as a cost beneficial medical system for the under-insured and the uninsured. Public health/community non-profit medical clinics serve these populations. They receive federal grants and funding from non-profit umbrella funding organizations like the United Way. When acupuncture becomes part of the Hinchey Bill, some 42 million Americans will be able to receive acupuncture. These 42 million Americans are senior citizens, SSDI recipients, and federal employees. This bill will open the door for state funded programs and for-profit insurance companies to provide acupuncture as part of their standard package. Acupuncturists would then be able to be paid by these federally funded programs in rural and urban areas serving the under-insured and the uninsured. This will allow the acupuncture community, most likely the Council of Colleges, to petition for loan forgiveness. Any acupuncturist working in a medical facility that serves this demographic will be eligible for loan forgiveness. This process will bring us into the mainstream providing a larger population to benefit from this 5,000 year old medicine.

QUR: You mentioned that you would like to start a non-profit to further your work with governments in drug treatment. What is that organization called and how will it work?

AS: For the last year, I have been working on creating a non-profit organization that would provide community style, sliding-scale acupuncture and Oriental medicine healthcare to everyone—especially the uninsured and underinsured. The organization would be able to write grants, fundraise by holding events in the community, and educate the community about when to seek acupuncture treatment. The model I’ve been working on would have a multi-tiered system of expertise providing a residency program for new graduates and an assistant program for students as well as ongoing education. Also, I plan to have a fleet of mobile units able to be dispatched to rural communities and natural disasters. This organization would work with other organizations and develop programs within these facilities. My organization is called Acupuncture Access. I am ready to file the non-profit papers and begin fundraising and grant writing. This is a life time work in progress.

Abbye Silverstein contact information:
www.acupunctureaccess.com
(970) 672-4762