When speaking to groups or on the radio, I am often asked for my opinion of methadone, a dangerous opioid promoted as an acceptable solution for people who have been addicted to heroin, OxyContin or other opioids.
My answer to the question is that for most people the methadone "solution" is really not a solution but a trap every bit as terrible as heroin or OxyContin addiction. Putting people on methadone is like putting them in a prison where they are not confined by walls but by their dependence on the drug.
The questioner often then rejoins that they know someone who was in and out of jail for criminal acts when they were on heroin but are now on methadone and actually have a job. My response is that they may be living a better life than when they were addicted to heroin or OxyContin, but this life is nothing compared to the life they can have if they are withdrawn from methadone.
However, getting off methadone is not that easy. Our patients who were taking over 100 milligrams of methadone a day came to Novus because we are one of the few facilities that can help them detox from their methadone addiction. Prior to learning about Novus, these patients had almost all:
• Tried to taper off methadone on their own but failed;
• Contacted other detox facilities who were unwilling to accept them;
• Decided that there was no way to withdraw from methadone because of the pain.
WHAT IS LIFE ON METHADONE LIKE?
It is interesting that most people who believe methadone addiction is an acceptable way of dealing with heroin, OxyContin or other opioid addiction don't have any reality of what life on methadone is like. Many of us have forgotten to take medicine and had no ill effect from that. However, not getting a methadone dose on time can put a person into painful withdrawal. And the clinics are often located many miles away and are only open for a few hours in the morning.
We have asked our patients about life on methadone. Here are some of the things that we were told about their lives:
• You get up early to drive to a methadone clinic that is often in a less desirable part of town;
• You stand in line with a variety of people, some who haven't bathed in weeks and some who wear business suits;
• You make up excuses about why you can't leave town for a few days when your friends ask you to go with them;
• You find your kids getting upset with you because you can never take off for a few days to take them camping or to an amusement park in another town;
• You have less and less energy;
• You look in the mirror and see someone that looks much older than your friends of the same age;
• You worry that your libido is less and less;
• You get Viagra but it doesn't seem to help;
• You don't get high anymore on methadone, you just hope you don't get sick but sometimes you get sick even with the methadone;
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