HYANNIS – Dr. Charles Reznikoff treats people in pain but he also treats opiate addicts. He brought that expertise to Cape Cod this week in a free lecture Wednesday night.
“I work a lot with opioid addicts and with people in pain and with people who are both in pain and addicted and it’s a very complicated subject,” he said.
As the second lecture in Gosnold on Cape Cod’s Charlie Wilkerson Memorial Series, Reznikoff spoke about his experiences as an addiction medicine specialist.
He brought a message of hope, that he has seen treatment work for many people.
Reznikoff is both a general medicine doctor and an addiction medicine doctor. Opioid addicts are a big part of his practice, he said.
He is also a pain consultant. “Sometimes I treat patients in pain who may be addicted, sometimes I treat people who are addicted who may be experiencing pain,” he said.
Besides being an internal medicine and addiction medicine doctor at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, Reznikoff is also an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota.
He said he wanted to bring a message about the effectiveness of treatment to the Cape.
“Treatment for opioid addiction has good science behind it and can have very good outcomes and I have seen many people get their life back and their family back and go back to work and really regain a positive experience in their life,” said Reznikoff. “Treatment works. There are treatment options on the Cape. It takes a leap of faith. The person has to ask for help and has to admit there’s a problem.”
Reznikoff adds that he believes the Cape would see a big benefit from people getting rid of unused, extra drugs in their medicine cabinets. If not disposed of properly, the drugs can sometimes make their way into the hands of addicts.
Officials ask that medicines be disposed of by mixing them with coffee grounds or cat litter and throwing them in the trash. Do not flush them down the toilet, as that can pollute the Cape’s aquifer. Many police stations on the Cape have disposal boxes for unused medicines, as well.
“If everybody on the Cape today went to their medicine cabinet and ditched those controlled substances it would be a safer Cape, a safer community,” said Reznikoff.
