Methadone for heroin addiction?

Question

Can someone please tell me how it makes any sense for doctors to prescribe methadone as a treatment for heroin addiction?

The withdrawals from methadone addiction take 3 times longer than for heroin (3 weeks against 5 days), and are actually more painful. Methadone has extremely high potential for abuse, how does it make sense to give a heroin addict a similar drug to heroin and expect them not to abuse it? What progress are you really making in overcoming addiction if you're just preoccupying them with another drug?

Answer 1

Oh dear, here we go again - I posted a Q like this a few weeks ago.

For answerer #1 I lost a very good friend of mine to a methadone overdose - so please stop making up "facts" - you CAN very easily die from a methadone overdose.

The truth is this: Heroin is less dangerous than methadone. Doctors prescribe methadone for two main reasons:

1. It's has a longer half life in the body (12-14 hours as against 6-8 for heroin). This makes it easier to manage the typical junkies erratic lifestyle.

2. it doesn't get you high in the way that heroin does.

If you think about those two facts, you come to a simple conclusion: the suffering of a patient is considered to be less important than moral and practical convenience if the patient just happens to have a drug problem.

The strange thing is that there is a practical alternative: therapeutic quantities of morphine (or even heroin).

Even better: Legalize the possession and usage of all drugs, then use taxation and insurance based measures to mitigate any problems.

Answer 2

In response to your aditional information, are you making a comment or asking a question? I will attempt to answer the question. First off, it is important to note that I am biased as I think that methadone is a very bad idea as a maintanence drug. That being said, I will try and be even handed in answering the question. I think that there are two main reasons that methadone is prescibed. The first is the "harm reduction method" of treatment. The doctors see the statistics and realize that an opiate addict will probobly remain an opiate addict for the rest of thier life. The hope is that in switching people to a drug that can be contolled with a known dosage and a low cost will reduce much of the harm that will be done to themselves or do society. IE, no AIDS from sharing needles, no resorting to robbery or prostitution to earn money for heroin, no overdoses from injecting something that has an unknown strength or makeup. 2. There is lots of money in it - there is never a shortage of people wanting to get on a clinic, and clinics tend to tell people that they are "not ready" when they request getting a lowar dosage in order to keep thier paying patients. There may be some clinic doctors that are noble, but most are just drug dealers

Answer 3

you CAN die from heroin withdrawal, you CANNOT die from methadone withdrawal. Clear enough?

Answer 4

It doesn't.