Methadone - Treatment for Habitual Users

Treatment for Habitual Users

Habitual use of methadone is encouraged in people trying to kick an opiate habit. This is because proper use of methadone allows addicts to resume a normal life again. Studies from many countries show that heroin addicts who have lost jobs and contact with their families, and have fallen into criminal behavior, can turn their lives around as long as they adhere to a strictly supervised methadone plan. Sometimes recovering addicts take methadone for years. In other cases, the methadone doses are gradually decreased over a period of months until a full recovery is achieved.

However, many addicts who start a methadone treatment program will have difficulties following the plan. Some quit and go back to hard drugs. Others falter here and there, or become dependent on

Ann Livingston, the director of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, leans against a poster seeking volunteers to participate in an opiate study in 2005. The controversial program is designed to help hard-to-treat heroin addicts in Vancouv
Ann Livingston, the director of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, leans against a poster seeking volunteers to participate in an opiate study in 2005. The controversial program is designed to help hard-to-treat heroin addicts in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Under the 12-month program, half of the participants are given prescription-grade heroin while the other half are treated with methadone. Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images.

another drug such as cocaine. Some combine methadone with other brain-altering drugs or alcohol. This greatly complicates the treatment process.

One researcher in a nationally published report by SAMHSA likened opiate addition to illnesses such as diabetes and extreme obesity. People with diabetes know that they have to manage their weight and watch what they eat. Some do, others do not. The ones who follow doctors' orders live longer than the ones who ignore the advice and carry on with their habits. The same holds true for obesity. People must be highly motivated to lose weight. Some are, some are not. The ones who make a commitment to change often live longer than the ones who do not change their lifestyles. Drug addicts are also suffering from a disease, and their willingness to fight the disease influences their ability to overcome it.

Most doctors realize that simply dispensing methadone tablets to people with a drug addiction will not end the cycle of abuse. Opiate addicts must also undergo talk therapy with counselors who are trained to offer strategies for combating drug use. Self-help groups such as Narcotics Anonymous can be helpful but might not be enough for those requiring methadone therapy. Most methadone clinics combine drug treatment with personal counseling.

In the News

How many ways can methadone kill? Newspapers reveal personal stories of tragic deaths.

  • In 1999, an eight-year-old boy died following a mix-up in his prescription, having taken methadone instead of Ritalin (methylphenidate). It was one of six documented cases of confusion over the similar names for the two drugs.
  • In 2001, an eight-year user of prescription methadone, a father with a young child, died in Ontario, Canada, after doctors refused to place him on a liver-transplant list. The man died of liver failure unrelated to his methadone use. A physician admitted that the victim was discriminated against because he used methadone.
  • In 2002, a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, woman died in her home at age forty-one of a multiple-drug overdose, including prescribed methadone. She was being treated for an intensely painful back deformity.
  • In 2002, a two-year-old boy died of methadone overdose in Sheffield, England, after drinking the sweetened liquid containing methadone that his mother had brought home from a clinic. His mother was high on heroin at the time.
  • In 2002, a fifteen-year-old Toronto girl lapsed into a coma and stopped breathing many hours after drinking a beverage laced with methadone. Someone had spiked her drink without her knowledge.
  • In 2004, a Colorado State University student died a month before his twenty-first birthday from a combination of alcohol and methadone. He collapsed on a street near the campus.

Self-Healing on the Street

Studies are being conducted of methadone abuse on the streets to see how the drug is used recreationally. Some researchers suggest that illicitUnlawful. methadone is used less for the high it produces and more as a self-treatment for withdrawal symptoms when other opiates are not available. Methadone is not a safe recreational drug. It is habit-forming. Anyone using it for any reason should be under the close supervision of a doctor.