Letters for Dr. Levin

[D1chotomy]

Letters for Dr. Levin

Letter is on the way buddy. In the mail today.

B.

[Rite]

Letters for Dr. Levin

I shared this on the baclofenforalcoholism site. I read now that many here had the same question that I did, mostly about whether personal experience matters or not. I approached this on the assumption that baclofen scripts were the main issue. I did not know whether that was the case. It could be due to writing for other meds as the allegation includes writing scripts for controlled substances. Baclofen is not a controlled substance. Thus, assume that the argument may not be relevant to the actual charges.

I share go offer a template to those who don't have a personal connection but want to take a stand. I was inspired to do so by Stratus over at baclofenforalcoholism who shared a template for those who did have the personal experience with DL.

I took out a reference thanks to feedback from Lo0p. I cleaned up some of the citations. I've had some difficulty with the formatting here, especially with links. Otherwise, it's much the same.

To Whom it May Concern:

Dr. Fred Levin is one among a few who are brave enough to take a risk for alcoholics. Prescribing off-label is not illegal for doctors. Moreover, from what I have seen in various communities, Dr. Levin has likely saved many lives.

The treatment options for alcoholics are few with no guaranteed success rate,. The relapse rate is very high (see statistics below). Baclofen has been the only hope for many. Despite side-effects, baclofen relieves the alcoholic of the greatest burden: dependence upon alcohol.

While I have not had Dr. Levin as my personal psychiatrist, I am writing as a concerned individual in recovery. I am worried that irresponsible coverage of this or suspension of a doctor?s license for prescribing an increasingly accepted remedy will not only wrongly punish an individual who has helped many, but also deter other doctors from doing what they should be doing, saving lives. Perhaps it is easier to marginalize the life of an alcoholic, especially those whom society may have deemed too far-gone. Perhaps that is why less attention is given to a cure. However, this disease touches the lives of many, alcoholic or not.

As a matter of public policy, all should embrace the medical experts who lead the way to a cure. For society, a remedy such as baclofen means human capital recovered, more productive individuals, less collateral damage from accidents, missed work days, and the like. Healthier individuals and families also means less burden on medical and social services.

Every disease has had to have champions who walk a new path until researchers and then the mainstream catch on. For years, doctors were willing to go to great lengths to get their HIV/AIDS patients untested remedies, trusting the calculus their patients had done for themselves as to whether to try a new method or not. To this day, the best cures for HIV may be risky for most Stem-cell transplants may purge HIV : Nature News & Comment Dr. Levin has only done the same. Moreover, his path is even more reliable.

Baclofen has more evidence to support its effectiveness for alcohol dependency and appears less risky than cutting-edge treatments for other diseases. Baclofen has been on the market for years and its impact on the human system is much better tested than the most recent cures for cancer or HIV.

In Europe, many doctors are turning to Baclofen, not just as a relief from alcoholism, but as a potential cure for alcoholism. In the Netherlands, the addiction specialists at Rodersana Oirschot, prescribes baclofen to patients. Dr. Renaud de Beaurepaire has followed over 400 patients on baclofen with remarkable results. He often speaks of curing the disease see News Actu, actualités Actu - Paris Match

Some doctors only have a baclofen based practice prescribing over the phone at great distances. This shall quickly become the standard protocol if societies are as earnest about eradicating addiction as they are about eliminating small pox and polio.

To some extent, a doctor does bear the burden of proving that an unconventional method does indeed save lives. Certainly, the trail of evidence from other providers, studies and the personal anecdotes contained in these letters is ample. The burden then should shift to the state and medical board to explain why they are not doing the same or more to save lives and families. What greater good are they serving through persecuting one individual in the final balance of right and wrong in society?

The good done here far outweighs the harm. I do humbly submit that Dr. Levin should not only be reinstated, but that other providers should be encouraged to pursue this protocol for treating alcoholism. Those wrongly pursuing such actions against medical providers should pay fines which are paid to fund further research and education on baclofen for alcoholism and to assist indigent alcoholics and their families access baclofen treatment and support.


Sincerely,


(encl)

Facts on Adults and Alcohol/Drug Use (Current Statistics | Caron Pennsylvania)

? In 2004, approximately 22.5 million Americans aged 12 or older needed treatment for substance abuse and addiction (alcohol or illicit drugs). Of these, only 3.8 million people received it.2
? 71% percent of illegal drug users are employed.3
? Alcoholism causes 500 million lost workdays each year.2
? In adults 50 years and older, alcohol was the most frequently reported primary substance of abuse for all substance abuse treatment admissions. Of those admissions, 76% of the population were 65 and older.3
? In a Monitoring the Future Study, 66.5% of high school seniors reported drinking alcohol and 31.5% reported using marijuana in the last 12 months.6
? Young people will consume an average of five alcoholic beverages prior to driving.4
? Relapse rates for addictive diseases usually are in the range of 50% to 90%; however, these rates vary by definition of relapse, severity of addiction, which drug of addiction, length of treatment, and elapsed time from treatment discharge to assessment, as well as other factors.5
? Alcohol/drug addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder.5 Although craving has been implicated in the relapse process, its role is controversial in the literature.7
? Precipitants to relapse can include anger, frustration, stress, positive emotional states, overconfidence, psychiatric co-morbidity, severity of addiction and social pressures in environment.10
? Relapse rates from addiction (40 to 60%) can be compared to those suffering from other chronic illnesses such as Type I diabetes (30 - 50%), Hypertension (50-70%) and asthma (50 to 70%). Drug addiction should be treated like any other chronic illness, with relapse indicating the need for renewed intervention.11
? Addiction need not be a life sentence. Like other chronic diseases, it can be managed successfully. Treatment enables people to counteract addiction's powerful effects on the brain and behavior and regain control of their lives.15

In addition to the recent statistics listed throughout this page, you may find that the following websites contain current statistics regarding addiction and mental health:
CASAColumbia.org: Home
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institute on Drug Abuse
f="http://www.samhsa.gov/">The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - Homepage
Welcome to the MTF Website

2 - National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2004. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Infofacts.
3 - Working Partners for an Alcohol and Drug Free Workplace. Workplace Substance Abuse. 8/01.
3 - SAMHSA. National Survey on Drug Use and Health. 2006.
5 - Adolescent Illicit Drug Use-Understanding and Addressing the Problem. (2005).
6 - National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2006. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Infofacts
7 - National Survey of drinking and driving attitudes and behaviors. 2003. TrafficTech. 280, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
8 - Caron Treatment Centers. 2003. Relapse & Recovery: Behavioral Strategies for Change. P. 6.
9 - Hanson, G. R.. 2002. New insights into relapse. NIDA Notes. 17:3. National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Institute of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
10 - Gordon, S. M., Sterling, R., Siatkowski, C., Raively, K., Weinstein, S., & Hill, P. C. 2006. Inpatient desire to drink as a predictor of relapse to alcohol use following treatment. The American
Journal on Addictions, 15, 242-245.
11 - Stocker, S. Men and women in drug abuse treatment relaspse at different rates and for different reasons. NIDA Notes. 13:4. National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Institute of Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Ibid.
12 - Caron Treatment Centers. 2003. Relapse & Recovery: Behavioral Strategies for Change. P. 15-17.
13 - McLellan, et al., 2000. Comparison of relapse rates between drug addiction and other chronic illnesses (pie chart). JAMA, 284, 1689-1695.
14 - NIDA. Advanced recovery. Treatment manuals. National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Institute of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
15 - Caron Treatment Centers. 2003. Relapse & Recovery: Behavioral Strategies for Change. P. 18. Treatment and Recovery. (2001).NIDA. The Journal of Neuroscience, 21, 23: 9414-9418.

[Lo0p]

Letters for Dr. Levin

I now have 10 letters.

Regarding a template, there is no uniform experience, but this one mirrored mine in quite a few ways so I assume it may be a common one. I was given permission to post this:

Anonymous wrote: To whom it may concern:

I have been a patient of Dr. Levin’s for more than a year now, taking baclofen under his care, for the treatment of alcoholism. Prior to that, I had been unable to find anything that could keep me sober for more than a few days or weeks. I had tried everything available or imaginable: Outpatient therapy, Alcoholics Anonymous, Naltrexone, Campral, etc. Nothing could overcome the cravings for alcohol I experienced.

I contacted Dr. Levin, after learning of his work with baclofen as a promising and revolutionary treatment for alcoholism. Upon contacting him, he scheduled a full length psychotherapy session with me, via phone.

During the session, he discussed with me, in depth, my situation, the treatment program and its protocol. He started me on a prescription for baclofen and gave me the directions on how to take it, the titration schedule and what to expect. He also cross checked the other medications I had been taking, to ensure there would be no contraindications that would prevent me from taking it successfully.

Upon reaching a dose of 240 mg/day, I suddenly felt the burning need to drink alcohol, disappear. It was as if I had never been addicted to it and was able to immediately and effortlessly stop. I found myself passing more and more days sober, without even counting. It wasn’t even a conscious thought, anymore.

Dr. Levin has selflessly provided his services to myself and other alcoholics like me, asking virtually nothing in return. Several times, I found myself asking him about compensating him for his services, because he never even billed me for it. It seemed as if he was doing it, simply to be of service and help those in need.

He also made himself available via phone, at ANY time, if I needed to discuss my treatment or had any questions, concerns or problems. Dr. Levin is anything but a “mail-order doc”, who is just shelling out prescriptions to anyone with a checkbook.

I humbly ask that you please re-instate his medical license and allow him to continue his invaluable treatment to me and many others who have been freed from the hells of alcoholism. Without his care, I will be forced to stop taking baclofen and return to a life of alcoholic misery.

He is a passionate and caring doctor who dedicated himself to helping those in need and should not be punished for it.

Sincerely,

I was destitute when I approached him. He said: "If you can send me a check for $10, do that."

So I did. He filled my baclofen prescriptions for 2 years, for $10. He also made himself available to me whenever I needed him. For $10.

edit: 12 letters

[lmw]

Letters for Dr. Levin

address?

Hi, I'd like to send a letter for Dr. Levin. What address should I send to? Will somebody pm me?

Thanks,
lmw

[Cassander]

Letters for Dr. Levin

I finally got around to writing a letter for Dr Levin yesterday. I composed it, finished it and emailed it to Lo0p, all in an hour or so. It wasn't so hard.

I should have done it much sooner since it was Dr Levin who had the courage back in 2011 to prescribe baclofen for my son when he really needed it...and it made all the difference. It broke the cycle of anxiety and craving and gave my son space to get his life back together. I will be forever grateful.

Here's the text of my letter. At Lo0p's suggestion, I post it here both to honor Dr Levin and in the hope that it might encourage others of you to write in his support.

September 25, 2013

To whom it may concern:

I have been aware of Dr. Fred Levin?s work with alcoholics since 2011 when I contacted him to help a family member. He did in fact take the patient on, prescribed Baclofen for him and the result was an enormous life- changing success.

Since then, I have followed his work on an Internet message board for alcoholics. The results have been extraordinary. Dozens, if not hundreds, of desperate alcoholics who have not been able to find a doctor anywhere else in the country to help them have found Dr. Levin and have then found their alcoholism ?miraculously? cured.

I put the word miraculously in quotation marks since there is in truth nothing miraculous about it. Dr. Levin was simply wise enough, experienced enough and courageous enough to realize a few years ago that Dr. Olivier Ameisen?s discovery that Baclofen cures alcoholism was wholly legitimate.

Since the publication of Dr. Ameisen?s book, The End of My Addiction, alcoholics around the world have sought medical advice regarding Baclofen treatment, but only a few doctors have been willing to prescribe it off-label, and in the United States, Dr. Levin has been one of the very few.

Some day Baclofen treatment for alcoholism will be recognized as the gold standard treatment for alcoholism and Dr. Levin will be recognized as a pioneer in advancing the treatment. In the meantime it makes no sense to suspend his license to practice medicine. Whatever he may have allegedly done in violation of the rules, the good he has accomplished must far outweigh any transgression.

I strongly urge you to reinstate Dr. Levin so he can resume his crucial ministry to alcoholics who have no alternative medical resource.

Sincerely,

[Cassander]

[Pronoia2012]

Letters for Dr. Levin

My lettter

llinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation
320 West Washington Street
Springfield, Illinois 62786

Dear Sirs and Madams:

Dr. Fred Levin prescribed baclofen off-label to alcoholics nationwide at a reasonable cost. He has saved the lives of hundreds as a result. Countless others have benefited from knowing he was there as a resource, and from his emerging prominence as an advocate for baclofen, an FDA-approved medication.

Where is the "unprofessional conduct, improper prescribing of controlled substances and failure to establish and maintain medical records" that the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation alleges?

Phone consultations are not uncommon in medicine, let alone unprofessional. Baclofen is a non-narcotic, non-controlled substance. Finally, if Levin's paperwork was not to the board's liking, a warning or probationary period could have been applied for corrective action.

Dr. Levin should be lauded, not punished, for recognizing and providing effective medical treatment of alcoholism. To the end that he has done so with Baclofen, he should not be punished.

[Lo0p]

Letters for Dr. Levin

"To whom it may concern," is Dr. Levin's request for who it should be addressed to.

Stratus, my technical administrator is a busy guy but he's going to set up an email so you can just email me your letters. We were thinking that the actual physical process of mailing letters may be another reason that might help explain the fact that Dr. Levin has written over a thousand prescriptions for members of this community and we have responded by writing him 13 letters of support.

I'll bug Stratus for an email address today (again).

[Lo0p]

Letters for Dr. Levin

I spoke with Dr. Levin this morning, he asked me to express to you his "profound gratitude and appreciation" for your letters which "brought [him] to tears" as he read them. He is handing them over to his head lawyer.

I told him I made the process difficult for the community to send him physical letters. And that we were now switching to an email campaign. If you go back to the beginning of this thread you'll read that you had to register on our site and PM me for my physical address.

This was solely so that I could protect myself from having my own physical address available to trolls. A necessary step. We had a long conversation about "trolls" about a month ago. He said, "there's just that 3% that's out to get you."

I said, "Ahh yes, we call them trolls" and started to tell him of the time back in March of '10 when Dr. Olivier Ameisen posted on here and was chased off. But he finished the story for me. Wow! Probably the only time he's ever been online, huh?


Lo0p@baclofenforalcoholism.com

[Lo0p]

Letters for Dr. Levin

Oh and one more thing. While speaking with the good doctor yesterday after I made the most recent post he told me this :

"This is it! This is the missing piece! Even my lawyers aren't sure how to proceed because they don't really understand why I was doing what I was. This is what I need!"

This is a fuzzy quote and does not belong in quotation marks. My memory is more the photographic type than auditory. But I'm hearing this in my head over and over again.

This is but a small portion of our conversation, but if that isn't elucidation enough for those of you who've been silent, then there is no more that I can do.

He is no longer reachable by phone, mail or email.

You can only help him through me.

The 13 letters you gave him granted him more hope than he has had since the beginning of this debacle.

I, my network of associates and he made an impromptu plan yesterday including novel new ideas regarding gathering testimonies. He is waiting on advice from his head lawyer as to which parts may be helpful. I await his lawyers advice and honestly have no idea whether or not what I just said is legal or appropriate.

This message may disappear.

Lo0p@baclofenforalcholism.com It must be an attachment. .pdf, .docx, .wav, or .mp3 is preferred. Dr. Levin said specifically to me several times: your identity is of no importance. Your anonymity is paramount unless you wish it otherwise. You needn't reveal anything to anyone. Use a pseudonym if you feel the need to. Use a proxy to email me if you want.

Unfortunately if you would like to send a private, sealed, physical message it needs to be sent to my personal address and the instructions are in the beginning of this thread. Specifically, register on baclofenforalcoholism.com and send me a private message. There will be another layer of security. Just use option one.

-Evan Picard aka Lo0p

edit: If you would like to send a private sealed envelope contact me. Please ignore "just use option one"

[skullbabyland]

Letters for Dr. Levin

Lo0p;1566258 wrote: Oh and one more thing. While speaking with the good doctor yesterday after I made the most recent post he told me this :

"This is it! This is the missing piece! Even my lawyers aren't sure how to proceed because they don't really understand why I was doing what I was. This is what I need!"

This is a fuzzy quote and does not belong in quotation marks. My memory is more the photographic type than auditory. But I'm hearing this in my head over and over again.

This is but a small portion of our conversation, but if that isn't elucidation enough for those of you who've been silent, then there is no more that I can do.

He is no longer reachable by phone, mail or email.

You can only help him through me.

The 13 letters you gave him granted him more hope than he has had since the beginning of this debacle.

I, my network of associates and he made an impromptu plan yesterday including novel new ideas regarding gathering testimonies. He is waiting on advice from his head lawyer as to which parts may be helpful. I await his lawyers advice and honestly have no idea whether or not what I just said is legal or appropriate.

This message may disappear.

Lo0p@baclofenforalcholism.com It must be an attachment. .pdf, .docx, .wav, or .mp3 is preferred. Dr. Levin said specifically to me several times: your identity is of no importance. Your anonymity is paramount unless you wish it otherwise. You needn't reveal anything to anyone. Use a pseudonym if you feel the need to. Use a proxy to email me if you want.

Unfortunately if you would like to send a private, sealed, physical message it needs to be sent to my personal address and the instructions are in the beginning of this thread. Specifically, register on baclofenforalcoholism.com and send me a private message. There will be another layer of security. Just use option one.

-Evan Picard aka Lo0p

edit: If you would like to send a private sealed envelope contact me. Please ignore "just use option one"

Loop, is the "missing piece" you quote above referring to the letter campaign in general? I wasn't sure what you were referring to, if it was that or something more specific.

[COSGringo]

Letters for Dr. Levin

Crap, I wasn't sure what this was about.

I got his letter in the mail. For Christ's sake. I knew this would happen eventually. It might be because of the xanax/valium but I think he was just too much in the spotlight.

What a bunch of shite. Good lord. Poor doctor.

Perhaps someone could start a fund of some kind?

[Lo0p]

Letters for Dr. Levin

skullbabyland;1567261 wrote: Loop, is the "missing piece" you quote above referring to the letter campaign in general?

Basically yes. More specifically, testimonies of any kind.

We now have a deadline:

November 3rd

19 days

[Lo0p]

Letters for Dr. Levin

COSGringo;1567356 wrote: Perhaps someone could start a fund of some kind?

One of my companies, Phoenix Risen Research LLC has the ability to collect fully tax deducible donations.

I, more than a month ago, told Dr. Levin I could start a fundraising campaign for him. He said in no uncertain terms: "Thank you so much but I could never take something I don't need."

And on second thought, in order for them to be tax deductible, they'd need to be within the scope of the mission statement of the LLC anyway. And this isn't.