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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A pregnant woman who uses heroin should not attempt to suddenly stop taking the drug. This can put her baby at increased risk of death. She should consult a health care provider or drug treatment center about treatment with a drug called methadone. Although infants born to mothers taking methadone also have withdrawal symptoms, they can be safely treated in the nursery and generally do better than babies born to women who continue to use heroin.

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.

The number of ED visits involving heroin/morphine increased 15 percent, from 84,409 to 97,287

Crime and heroin addiction have long been associated together. This is due to many reasons such as the fact that heroin importation and distribution are illegal. Also, heroin and crime are synonymous because many addicted people turn to theft and prostitution to obtain money to buy the drug. Violent competition between drug dealers has resulted in many murders and the deaths of innocent bystanders. From 1979 through 1990 arrests for heroin manufacture, sale, or possession in the United States held steady, but in the 1990s arrests rose as the drug's popularity began to increase once more.

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