Is Methadone the Answer?

Is Methadone the Answer?

Methadone is a synthetic opiate analgesic currently used in America as the leading treatment for narcotics addiction. A soluble white crystalline powder usually ingested by tablet or mixed in a liquid such as orange juice.

First synthesized by the Germans during World War II to substitute for scarce morphine, methadone is only slightly more potent than morphine as a painkiller. Methadone has the distinct advantage over other narcotics of being nearly as effective orally as by injection. In addition, while most opiates must be administered every four to six hours to stave off withdrawal pains and anxieties, an adequate methadone dose lasts a full twenty-four-hour day, and can supplant narcotic cravings for up to forty-eight hours. The drug is manufactured by Ell Lilly & Company, and its legal use is totally restricted to licensed, regulated methadone clinics and hospitals; it cannot be purchased by prescription.

The history of addiction treatment is a curious one. At one time cocaine and heroin were thought to be harmless, nonaddicting alternatives to opium addiction, and opium was used for the treatment of alcoholics. Methadone is now prescribed for heroin addiction. A highly addictive substance that chemically blocks the craving for heroin, it does not provide heroin's warm, euphoric rush.  Nor is it a drug that creates tolerance in the user. The methadone addict does not need increasingly larger doses to retrain comfortably, "normal." In fact, dosage can usually be reduced after the addict has been detoxified from heroin. The drug' produces a cross-tolerance to heroin. This means that if an addict tries heroin while on methadone, the heroin will have no effect.

If the addict does not get his adequate daily methadone dose, he is subject to withdrawal trauma--diarrhea, hot and cold flashes, sweating, insomnia, and stomach pain. The withdrawal phase may be less intense than heroin's three days of horror, but it can last as long as two weeks.

Methadone obliterates what is known as post-abstinence syndrome--that intermittent, gnawing desire for heroin that lingers on after withdrawal. The drug decreases anxiety, although it is not a potent mood elevator. Methadone creates psychological and physical dependence, which may help explain its success in addiction treatment. In all cases, prescribing proper dosage should be left to professionals. Addicts with low tolerance levels may require special dosage to avoid potentially lethal results. Non addicts can easily die from using methadone.

Initially, methadone treatment was envisioned as a temporary therapy that could be discontinued after a patient had received decreasing doses for several months. Methadone maintenance is now believed to be a permanent treatment. The patient must regularly visit a clinic and receive his daily medication or he will revert to his previous opiate addiction. For reasons that may have more to do with human nature than with pharmacology, most heroin-free methadone patients dabble in other drugs, including barbiturates, cocaine, and alcohol; 20 percent become alcoholics.

Certainly methadone is a better option that heroin addiction.  But is the long term permanent answer to heroin addiction the participation in a methadone program? With the disturbing statistics that most methadone patients use other drugs including alcohol it is obvious that this method of treatment is flawed.  What is the answer?

The answer is the same answer to all addictions.  It is Jesus Christ.  John 8:32 32 And ye shall know the truth (Jesus Christ), and the truth (Jesus Christ) shall make you free.  The Bible teaches;  2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV) ¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  Jesus has the power to transform life.  He has done it for others and He can do it for you.  For more stories of how Jesus Christ transforms life please visit here:  http://www.reformude.com/success-stories.html