Methadone Addiction & Drug Rehabilitation

Many people go from Heroin Addiction to methadone addiction. They continue with this "treatment" for years, fearing the withdrawal that will occur when they stop. Methadone does not have to be the way of life for former heroin addicts. Gradual cessation followed by a drug-free program of rehabilitation may be the answer for many sufferers.

Critics point out that methadone patients are still addicts, and that methadone therapy does not help addicts with their personality problems. In many cases, the use of multiple drugs and a strong psychological dependence undermine the gains made. Some addicts manage to resell the methadone they receive in order to buy heroin. This and other illegal diversion have resulted in methadone joining the group of addictive drugs sold on the street.

Fraudulently acquiring methadone is becoming common practice among many individuals with Drug Addictions. Addiction to methadone can take several forms:
- conning a doctor into prescribing a higher dosage than is required
- taking more than the recommended dosage
- taking methadone in combination with other drugs, including alcohol
- using methadone as a "top up" drug while continuing to take heroin
- selling prescribed methadone in order to buy heroin

In blind trials, users who were given both drugs orally were unable to distinguish between the effects heroin and methadone. An added problem for those using methadone to recover from Heroin Addiction is withdrawal. Withdrawal from heroin should be over after seven to ten days. Withdrawal from methadone though, can take up to a month or even longer.

Ironically, the methadone used to control narcotic addiction is frequently encountered on the illicit market and has been associated with a number of overdose deaths. Tolerance and addiction to methadone is a dangerous threat, as withdrawal results from the cessation of use. Many former heroin users have claimed that the horrors of heroin withdrawal were far less painful and difficult than withdrawal from methadone.

A serious problem with much of the methadone prescribing in the past was that heroin addicts were often given sufficient methadone to last one week, or even one month. As a result, addicts commonly sold their prescribed methadone in the illicit drug market. School children have been found in possession of this drug and several have died. It is more common practice today to require addicts on methadone maintenance programs to collect their prescription from a clinic or pharmacy daily, and to swallow their dose under observation. This is to prevent methadone from entering the illicit market.

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From 1997 to 2000 cocaine was the most common drug reported in emergency room episodes.

In every year from 1995 to 2005, most Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) admissions for primary heroin addiction injected the drug. However, the proportion of primary heroin admissions who injected the drug declined from 69 percent in 1995 to 63 percent in 2005 (despite an 8 percent increase in the number of such admissions over this time period). Although inhalation has remained the second most frequent route of administration, the proportion of primary heroin admissions who inhaled the drug increased from 27 percent in 1995 to 33 percent in 2005.

Most babies of heroin users suffer from withdrawal symptoms after birth, including fever, sneezing, trembling, irritability, diarrhea, vomiting, continual crying and, occasionally, seizures. Babies exposed to heroin before birth also face an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

In the U.S.A the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act was passed in 1914 to control the sale and distribution of heroin and other opiates. The law did allow heroin to be prescribed and sold for medical purposes. In particular, recreational users could often still be legally supplied with heroin and use it. In 1924, the United States Congress passed additional legislation banning the sale, importation or manufacture of heroin in the United States. It is now a Schedule I substance, and is thus illegal in the United States.

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