methadone for the treatment of heroin
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Methadone Treatment 1
Methadone for the Treatment of Heroin
Jennifer Sweeney
College of Charleston
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Abstract
The treatment of heroin is a controversial topic and people have various views regarding
the ethics of using a drug for treating another drug !n this essay ! will attempt to argue
for the use of methadone in the treatment of heroin dependence Methadone use over a
short period of time may help people trying to recover from opiate abuse because it
ma"es withdrawal tolerable The most appropriate course of action is to have methadone
administered to patients in the smallest efficient dose to ease pain# and then over the
course of a few wee"s time wean them off until they can function without it
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Methadone for the treatment of heroin addiction
The withdrawal of heroin can be a very painful e%perience for heroin users
&ithdrawal can include craving# cold flashes# anhedonia# flu'li"e symptoms and although
they are typically not life'threatening# they may cause a user trying to get clean severe
distress !n the H() documentary *Methadonia+ one of the addicts in the video brings up
a good point that# *heroin treatment has changed a lot in the past forty years Methadone
has clearly provided more humane treatment than straight,ac"ets and rubber deto%es+ !f
drug abuse is considered a psychological disorder that warrants treatment then drug
addicts deserve to see" help in a way that causes them the least amount of physical and
psychological discomfort !t may be argued that it isn-t humane to throw a first time
offender who has used heroin in ,ail to allow them to suffer from withdrawal !t isn-t a
method conducive to psychological wellbeing and may not prevent relapse in many
cases &ithin the appropriate environment .such as within methadone clinics/ methadone
may provide some relieve to heroin users &ith the combination of other therapies li"e
cognitive'behavior therapy# methadone may be an effective treatment &hether or not
methadone will be an effective therapy has a lot to with the patient-s cessation of other
drugs and ability to wean off the methadone gradually Most methadone related deaths
involve polydrug use# especially ben0odia0epines in combination with methadone
Sometimes patients can end up on multiple prescriptions for ben0odia0epines along with
opiates Heath edger allegedly died from a combination of prescription opiates and
ben0odia0epine depressants .Many celebrities have had similar deaths# perhaps because
they li"ely have very easy access to any and every drug/
!3A has done research on methadone as a treatment for heroin and found that it
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can be a safe# effective therapy Methadone may prevent a user from craving# because the
methadone prevents heroin from producing the same euphoria as it once did.1/ ! do wish
to point out that it is disturbing to me that !3A-s site claims that methadone is
medically safe even when used for over ten years .1/ ! am advocating methadone as a
short-termtreatment of heroin addiction# not as a permanent drug alternative Methadone
dosages should be carefully administered and monitored !t should be a last resort
treatment# used to relieve severe pain that has not been relieved by other pain"illers.2/
Methadone vs. Heroin
Heroin
Heroin is a highly'addictive and illegal street drug that is "nown for being deadly
The drug is derived from morphine and obtained from the opium poppy and is used
because of its pronounced pain'relieving effects Slang terms include brown sugar# blac"
tar and smac" among others and these street names come from the fact that the substance
is a powdery tar'li"e substance .$/ !t is most commonly in,ected intravenously or
smo"ed# though some newer users may use the drug subcutaneously and according to
5rowid .4/# some users may try to wean themselves off by ta"ing oral doses# though this
is not the preferred method when *chasing the dragon+ Heroin has an e%tremely high
potential for abuse partially due to the fact that tolerance develops 6uite rapidly to the
euphoric and numbing effects .though unfortunately barely at all to other negative side
effects# such as gastrointestinal effects li"e constipation/ 7sers will often continue to
search for the same high that they got the first time that they used8 this is what it means
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to *chase the dragon+ Heroin is a central nervous system suppressant that causes a range
of physiological reactions# including noticeably constricted pupils# vomiting# clouded
mental functioning and slow or slurred speech ong term use can cause respiratory
problems# pulmonary complications such as pneumonia and death Some problems
arising from heroin use may be largely due to the fact that street drugs are often *cut+
with various other dangerous substances .$/
Methadone
Methadone is a form of opiate replacement therapy that has a longer duration of
action than heroin and is not considered to produce the euphoric effects that are
commonly associated with heroin use !3A claims that users can e%perience real
emotions on the drug :: Heroin has about the same potency as morphine but the duration
of action for methadone is considerably longer# where heroin lasts an average of three or
four hours# methadone can last twelve to twenty four hours .p24; te%t boo"/ A patient in
a methadone clinic would thus only need to ta"e the drug once or twice over the course of
a day
!n the 7nited States methadone is a schedule two drug# which means that there is
a high potential for abuse but the drug is still considered to have a currently accepted
medical use with severe restrictions .heroin is a schedule one drug# which is not
surprising considering it is "nown for it-s high potential for abuse and the drug is illegal/
3octors should use caution when prescribing doses of methadone and heavily consider
the patients history of abuse !t should be used in the conte%t of a harm'reduction
approach# with the intention of "eeping a user from relapsing to heroin over the course of
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the few wee"s or months proceeding *6uitting+ when a user is most vulnerable to drug
and environmental cues that may promote relapse !n the video *Methadonia+ some of the
users too" methadone in ways that are not intended8 many used as a way to circumvent
prosecution because of heroin )ne of the users in the video "ept *nodding off+ in a way
that suggested he was abusing methadone as an alternative to heroin Methadone should
only be administered in a safe# clinical setting and it seems that it is perhaps too easily
available with seemingly little limitation for former heroin users
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&hen a user is not abusing methadone and is actually trying to get off of drugs#
the treatment can have a very positive impact on several domains in their life &hen a
patient begins to get methadone treatment at a clinic their overall health will improve#
even if they are H!? positive addicts They will li"ely have less interpersonal problems
and won-t have to "eep creating more ugly scars from in,ecting intravenously# which !
can see easing the minds of their loved ones and perhaps even opening up new
employment opportunities Also# a more serious reason for not in,ecting is H!? among
intravenous drug users# which is a big public health concern !f heroin users stop in,ecting
heroin and start ta"ing a methadone pill instead# the rates of H!? might decline Also#
the statistics show that criminal activity is very much decreased once someone admits
themselves for methadone treatment .9/
Conclusion
!t is easier to find information li"e statistics about how many people are passing
away from methadone and how obviously dangerous it is &hat is downplayed is the fact
that these people would have li"ely continued to use heroin and possibly died from that if
methadone were not available Many patients abuse various other drugs or ta"e too much
of their medication
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Methadone Treatment
heroin# over half will become dependent on it .;/ My father-s friend used heroin for only
a few wee"s and overdosed and died &ith heroin addiction# treatment is more urgent
than with most other drugs# because their life is very much at sta"e Heroin users have a
death rate that is roughly fifteen times greater than non'users They are also at an
e%tremely high ris" for suicide# and many heroin related deaths are suicides .;/ !t is
costing our society too much The &isconsin Medical society show statistics that the
yearly cost of heroin addicts# due to their criminal activity# lac" of social productivity
among users and medical care costs# etc was twenty one point nine billiondollars8 and
that is an outdated statistic from 1BB;# but ! only presume that it is far beyond that now
.;/
ew or" has 29D#DDD heroin addicts and only enough capacity in their
methadone programs to hold $$#DDD .9/ Some clinics refuse methadone treatment# and
the statistics show that the relapse rates are even higher among those not being treated
with methadone and the patients are less li"ely to return to treatment The heroin
epidemic is a serious problem and getting users to deto% on methadone is a start There
are many addicts who aren-t getting the help that they need
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Methadone Treatment B
::E5M)?5 F7)TAT!)S8
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(ut try to avoid this &here possible# find the original sources of information that you
cite ! do not want to read a paper that does nothing but cite a te%tboo" repeatedly
Sometimes the source that you are citing is an organi0ation Here is an e%ample of
how to cite it correctly According to the ational Survey on 3rug 7se and Health#
D2#DDD Americans used S3 in 2DD .S37H# 2DD/ 7sing this as an e%ample# you
should now be able to cite things off of !3A-s or !AAA website accurately Also see
the reference section for how to cite these things accurately there
Major Heading
Minor Heading
enerally# try to avoid direct 6uotations That sentence is important enough to
repeat Avoid 6uotations ! want to read your writing# not the writing of somebody else
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you provide a direct 6uote# be sure to include the page number @or e%ample Tardive
dys"inesia can be defined as *an e%trapyramidal complication characteri0ed by
involuntary movements of the mouth and tongue# trun"# and e%tremitiesK a side effect of
long'term .two or more years/ use of antipsychotic drugs+ .Maisto et al# 2D11# p $1>/
ote that ! use *et al+ because ! have already cited this source .and all of the authors/
earlier in the paper
Another case where it might be appropriate to provide a direct 6uotation is for the
psychologicalLliterary punch that it pac"s @or e%ample# if you are arguing for the
legali0ation of mari,uana# you might be interested in what a popular introductory
psychology te%tboo" says about the matter !n their discussion of mari,uana use in an
introductory psychology te%tboo"# Schacter# ilbert# and &egner .2DDB/ stated that *the
greatest danger of mari,uana is that it is illegal+ .p $2;/ otice how in the first 6uotation
! put the entire reference at the end of the 6uotation !n the second# ! put the authors and
year first and the page number following the 6uotation 5ither is acceptable
Sometimes# when you are 6uoting from on'line material# page numbers may not
be available Sometimes authors are not even available Try to give enough information
for the reader to find the 6uote !f titles# headings# or paragraphs are visible# use them
Here is an e%ample of how to handle this situation )ne user of "etamine# identified by
the screen name Jesusgreen# describes his e%perience on the website erowidorg as such
*)nce ! was in the N Hole# everything lost its meaning ! was no longer a person# ,ust an
entity# and everything ! saw was meaningless+ .Journey into the !nfinite# para ;/ otice
here that ! provided the author-s screen name# website# the title of the essay# and the
paragraph number
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@or the purposes of this paper# you should rarely .if ever/ need to directly 6uote
material from another source Eather# summari0e the literature in your own wordsand
then cite the source ! want to read your writing# not what someone else has written
"herefore, I am imposing a limit of two direct uotations for this paper.
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Major Heading
ote that this handout is largely a formatting guide !t says very little about how
to actually organi0e your paper !t is up to you to present your research topic in a logical
se6uence Most of the topics involve whether or not a drug should be legali0ed )ne
way to organi0e the material would be first to provide some bac"ground material on the
drug Then provide a history of the legal history associated with the drug e%t provide
arguments for legali0ation# arguments against legali0ation# and conclude with your
opinion Ma,or headings could be devoted to each of these topics ote that this is only
one possible way to organi0e your paper There are many
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#eferences
The reference section begins on a new page $ote that the header is
%#eferences& and not %'or(s Cited.&There are many online sources for how to format
your references in A
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Jesusgreen .2D1D# @ebruary 4/ Journey into the infinite O)nline forum commentP
Eetrieved from httpLLwwwerowidorgLe%periencesLe%pphp=!3Q>B9>B )$ote*
"his provides an eample of how to properly cite a user eperience from
+rowid, or any online forum comment for that matter.-
Eissen# A 5 .1B;;/ Sensory deprivation !n 5 Stellar I J ! Sprague .5ds/#
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$ote* 'hen citing an entire website, it is sufficient to give the entire website in the
tet. It does not need to reappear in the reference section.
1/ httpLLdrugabusegovLresearchreportsLheroinLheroin9html
2/ httpLLwwwnlmnihgovLmedlineplusLdruginfoLmedsLa;21$4html
$/ httpLLwwwdrugfreeorgLdrug'guideLheroin
4/ 5rowid
9/ httpLLdrcnetorgLmethadoneL
;/httpLLwwwwisconsinmedicalsocietyorgLR&MSLpublicationsLwm,LissuesLwm,Rv1D$n
4L(rownpdf