FALSE!   While a significant minority of methadone patients become alcoholic, over 98% were heavy or problem drinkers prior to their introduction to heroin. The statistics for cocaine abusers are similar. Methadone maintenance is not a treatment for non-opioid drug abuse. The patient who responds best to methadone maintenance treatment is one who has a…

How much do you really know about methadone? Take NAMA’s Methadone Awareness Test and find out! Most Frequently Asked Question: Is methadone maintenance “trading one addiction for another”     Answer Pregnant women should withdraw or at least lower their dose of methadone so that the baby is not born dependent. True or false?   Answer Methadone…

American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence Washington, D.C. ~ April 13-16, 2003 Hot Topic: Administrative Detox Facilitator: Joe Neuberger Delaware NAMA Bitch and Gripe.Com Administrative Detox is our subject. It is a policy whereby methadone patients in treatment are banished from their programs for the umbrella term of “non-compliance.” Now we’re not talking…

NAMA Talk Volumn 2, Number 2 March 15, 2000 Organizational News by Joycelyn Woods This will be a short column since there is a lot of Reading in this issue of NAMA Talk and we are busy, busy, busy with the AMTA Conference. Maureen Neville reports that the Patient Board had a meeting last week…

Pharmacology is the study (ology) of drugs (pharmacy). Psychopharmacology is the study of (ology) drugs (pharmacology/y) that produce their effects on the mind or brain (psycho or psyche). There are five basic classes of psycho-active drugs: 1) the opioids (i.e., heroin and methadone), 2) the stimulants (i.e., cocaine, nicotine), 3) the depressants (i.e., tranquilizers, antipsychotics,…