George Soros Creates Comic Book: Methadone Man and Buprenorphine Babe

I guess now that billionaire “philanthropist” George Soros ditched his Quantum Fund, he has succumbed to a severe case of boredom anxiety, as his latest venture is creating a new comic book entitled “Methadone Man and Buprenorphine Babe.”

But hey, at least it has a positive message, as it encourages drug addicts to use Methadone and Buprenorphine to help control heroin and other opiate drug withdrawals.  Oh, and even to combat HIV.

The Blaze explains why Methadone and Buprenorphine are not necessarily great alternatives:

The drugs Methadone and Buprenorphine are of course used to treat addictions to heroin and other opioids, however, the two drugs are also highly addictive and bring with them a laundry list of side effects. Many people who go on Methadone maintenance to treat their heroin addiction merely end up substituting one addiction for another.  This is why the use of Methadone and Buprenorphine are hotly contested by both anti-drug advocates and members of the medical community.

In the comic, Methadone Man – being the superhero – launches a crusade against the “War on Drugs,” while hawking Methadone as an effective tool for treating drug attention and preventing HIV from spreading.  “Methadone stops HIV in its tracks!” proclaims Methadone Man.  “Buprenorphine each day keeps injection away!” adds his smokin’ hot sidekick, “Bupe Babe.”  You simply cannot make this stuff up.

The Fix has more:

The Open Society’s program is part of a larger effort to lower HIV infection rates among injection drug users. The recent International AIDS Conference in Vienna declared that the War on Drugs is helping to spread AIDS and called for a policy overhaul. The Vienna Declaration was signed by thousands of people worldwide, including the Nobel-laureate co-discoverer of the HIV virus and other prominent health-policy figures. President Obama’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief also reportedly endorses MAT and harm-reduction strategies. A raft of methadone treatment programs were recently initiated in countries including Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Morocco, Cambodia and Bangladesh. In countries that already have MAT programs, like Georgia, Kyrgyszstan and Indonesia, IV addicts face prohibitively long waiting lists.

The Open Society’s five-point harm reduction approach to reducing HIV infection also includes increasing needle exchanges, legal reform to end the focus on criminalizing addicts, increasing the availability of antiretroviral treatment, and teaching addicts to take care of their sexual health.

This kind of reminds me of the Captain Israel vs. Foreskin Man comic book – just a little less graphic.

h/t to BRIAN KOENIG  – AUGUST 26, 2011