Do I Need Addiction Help for Methadone? Yes. It’s A Dangerous Drug.
While we may think being dependant on a drug isn’t the best way to go through life, we’re not alone. Many people dependent on drugs, including people on MRT, agree with that. We do recognize that some people have simply run out of options and that without methadone or some other drug they wouldn’t be able to get through a day. We’ve discussed that in several blogs and made it clear that those are not the people we’re concerned about and that the blogs regarding methadone are not directed to them. We never get comments on those blogs, by the way. But if we relay any factual information about the number of methadone-related deaths, or about a specific person who died, or about someone needing addiction help to get off it, we’re immediately inundated with people defending it and telling us to get our facts straight.
Excuse me - we’ve been involved in the field of drug rehab for a long time. We’ve helped thousands of people get off drugs - including heroin. Some of the people writing these comments are former heroin addicts who couldn’t stop taking it and turned to methadone instead. Exactly what qualifies that person as an expert in drug rehab?
The fact is, methadone is being abused all over the U.S. - and in other countries. The fact is, there are more methadone-related deaths than there are deaths related to heroin. The fact is, some of the people who die are kids. And, some of them get the methadone from parents who are on MRT. I wrote a blog some time ago about a toddler who picked up a methadone pill from the floor, ate it, and died. The pill had gotten buried in the couch and shaken out when the cushions were straightened. It fell on the floor without the parents noticing. Now their kid is dead. One of his parents was on MRT. And that’s not an isolated incident.
What would you have us do? Ignore the fact that it’s a dangerous drug and never say anything about it just in case we offend someone? Do you want us to play down the dangers of methadone so you don’t feel bad - so you don’t feel ‘attacked’ because you’re taking it? Well, sorry, if that’s what you want, it’s not going to happen. Methadone might not be killing you, but it has killed a lot of other people. We’re going to keep telling people about it. And we hope that by doing so, we’ll save some lives.
Your comments, on the other hand, that justify and defend methadone, that make it look acceptable, that suggest taking methadone is no different than a diabetic taking insulin to prevent themselves from suddenly going into a coma they may never come out of, may well make the drug seem safer than it is. And that could kill someone. Maybe you should think about that instead of being riveted on defending yourself. You want to take methadone? Fine. You need to take methadone? That’s understood. But don’t make it look like it’s a good thing. It’s not. And anyone who thinks there might be a chance in hell of getting off it should look into getting the addiction help services that might allow them to live drug free. Obviously, this does not apply to those of you who’ve already gone to 17 addiction help facilities to no avail, unless you really want to give it another shot, or to those of you who are coping with severe chronic pain.
addiction help, addiction help services, heroin, methadone
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Children die tragically from ingesting all manner of drugs, chemicals, household cleaners and the like every day. To insinuate that when this occurs with methadone, the problem is due solely to their parents being ON methadone maintenance is ludicrous in the extreme. ALL such items should be kept under lock and key in homes with young children, but if you go into the average such home you may find all kinds of medications and chemicals NOT locked up–are these parents drug addled monsters? Or are they simly not being careful enough and in need of education?
Methadone was not compared to insulin because the patient would DIE without it–it was compared because the similarity lies in the fact that a bodily organ is no longer producing a chemical we need to function normally–in diabetics, the pancreas no longer produces insulin and in some opiate addicts, the brain no longer produces endorphins. Just because a disease process does not lead to death is no reason not to treat it. Life without a functional endorphin system is unpleasant in the extreme and there is no reason for a person to have to suffer through life in utter misery when there is an available treatment.
I for one am fed up with being told by you and others that my treatment choice is “not good”. Opiates are NOT an evil drug–in fact, every one of us produces natural opiates in our bodies–that is why we have opiate receptors. If our opiate receptors are full of natural endorphins, and we take opiate drugs on top of that, we will get high. We have “overflowed the cup”. However, if your natural opiates are depleted and you take a properly prescribed long acting opiate on a stable dose, you will NOT get high–you will simply feel normal, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to feel normal. My recovery is not inferior to yours and I frankly am tired of the steady implication that your idea of recovery is the only way to go, despite the incredible relapse rate.
Bill Wilson, the founder of AA, had Dr Dole, the founder of MMT, on his board of trustees for AA. He once stated to Dr Dole that he wanted him to find “an analogue” of methadone for alcoholics–a similar medication that they could take–because he knew that too many people were not finding success in AA and needed another way, He was far more open minded than most of his followers today, sad to say.
Comment by zenith — May 3, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
Right On Zenith!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by kei — May 3, 2008 @ 3:27 pm