FALSE!
The MMT patient is DEPENDENT on their medication. Not
“addicted”!
The term “addiction” is currently used as a psychological term referring to the loss of control over
drug use or other behaviors such as eating or gambling. By these criteria as laid out in the Diagnostic
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV, the methadone patient is not
addicted to his/her medication.
In fact, the experts in this field have taken to comparing an individual on
methadone maintenance therapy to a diabetic who is dependent on their daily dose
of insulin. We would never label a diabetic an “insulin
addict”! Even the Drug Czar, General McCaffrey uses this comparison.
In terms of physical dependence, double blind studies done at Lexington have demonstrated that when comparing
the withdrawal symptoms of patients maintained on equivalent doses of methadone and short acting opioids
like heroin, those of the former group were _less_ severe than those of the latter group.
Withdrawal from methadone _does_ last significantly longer than that from short acting opioids, however,
and this clearly contributes to the patient who withdraws “cold” perceiving methadone as the more uncomfortable.
Most patients coming into MMT today have relatively heavy habits due to the high
quality and low cost of street opioids in the US since the early 90s. After having been built up to a blockading dose of methadone, if
they are subjected to sudden withdrawal (ie in jail) they would likely not experience the withdrawal syndrome
any more
intensely than they had on the street. Also, gradual withdrawal from methadone,
when properly
done, is virtually free of discomfort.
Finally, some patients tend to forget that the whole reason they came into MMT in the first place was
because they were unable to remain abstinent from opioids. When they attempt to leave MMT and fail,
they blame the methadone rather than the heroin which deranged their brain chemistries in the first place.
Sources: J. Woods, M. Beresky NAMA
Isbell, H. and Vogel, V.H.: The addiction liability of methadon (Amidon, Dolophine, “10820”) and its use in the treatment of the morphine abstinence
syndrome. American Journal of Psychiatry, 105:12 (June) 1949.
