“The International Conference of Human Detoxification”

Los Angeles, California, Dec. 1-2, 1995

Back row, from left: Ray Stowers, D.O.;W. Kent McGregor, A.C.S.W.; Vladimir Ivanov, M.D., David Root, M.D., M.P.H; Paolo Bruschelli, M.D. Front row: William Marcus, Ph.D.; Shelley Beckmann, Ph.D.; Forest Tennant, M.D., Dr. P.H; Alfonso Paredes, M.D.; Megan Shields, M.D.

Megan Shields, M.D. (center), discussed the rising rates of addiction in Russia with treatment specialist Yevginy Brioun, M.D. “Detoxification can be readily implemented in nearly any drug rehabilitation effort,” said Dr. Shields. “The requisite materials, training and facilities are well within the reach of any program.”

There’s no doubt that drug residues accumulate in the bodies of addicts, there’s no doubt that we can get them out, and there’s no doubt that it’s a good idea to do this.”
                       — Megan Shields, M.D.

The rate of drug rehabilitation failures — by some estimates as much as 85 percent—has led many to conclude that addiction is an incurable disease.

Physicians such as David Root, M.D. (left), and psychiatrist Alfonso Paredes, M.D., of the UCLA School of Medicine have observed that detoxification can alleviate the drug cravings that plague many emotional or behavioral approaches to addiction.