Hello!
I have been seeing alot of people recently that are affected by Methadone and so I thought it would be apt to do a little article on it.
Methadone, an opioid, was first produced in 1939 at the pharmaceutical laboratories of I.G. Farben in Germany. Named Amidon, while there is evidence that some testing was done of the drug, there is no evidence that it was widely used by the Germans in World War II.
After the war, the German patents were voided and Amidon was tested and released in the United States by Eli Lilly in 1947 as Dolophine. Dolophine was derived from the Latin word dolor (pain) and finis (end). Later Dolophine came to be known as methadone. Originally marketed as a pain reliever, it was not until the 1960’s when the number of heroin addicts was accelerating and the negative impact on society became widely known, did the idea of converting the heroin user to a methadone user become accepted as a treatment procedure.
The logic was that even though methadone was in many cases more addictive than heroin, because of its longer half-life, between 12 hours and 96 hours, a person could normally be given one dose of methadone and this would last until the next day. In the case of heroin, the much shorter half life of 4-5 hours meant that the heroin user would have to shoot up more frequently or go into withdrawal. Since the ability to dispense methadone is limited to a relatively small group of providers, it has been considered better to allow addicted heroin users to obtain legal methadone because there is less criminality and disease. In addition, since the user is not forced to seek another dose until the next day, it can allow someone to hold a job and lead a more regular life.
Now I know that if you are reading this you must say to yourself, okay this does not seem to bad, well hold on folks as this is not what you will think after reading the following.
Methadone is a trap, and this is why:
· A 1999 study done at the University of London found that methadone actually increased the cravings for heroin. Many methadone users supplement their "high" with other illegal drugs like prescription narcotics or even heroin. (Illegal drug dealers now can be found around these clinics because business is brisk.)
· Most methadone users are forced to come to the methadone clinics and wait in long lines every day or at least once a week. Because the number of methadone clinics is limited by law, some methadone users have to drive 50-80 miles a day and when they arrive, stand in line for an hour or more to get their methadone dose that will keep them from going into withdrawal, and then they go to work.
· The first thing a methadone addict often must do when considering moving is not check on the schools for their children but on the location of the nearest methadone clinic.
· Almost all of the people who switched to methadone from heroin have seen the amount of their daily methadone dose increase-to 100 milligrams or even much higher. In most cases the addict is now taking a much higher dosage of methadone than the equivalent amount of heroin that they were using.
· Almost none of these former heroin addicts have been able to wean themselves off methadone. (Some complain that the methadone clinics don't help their clients wean off. Apparently many clinics tell the methadone addict who is trying to taper down but experiences some withdrawal symptoms that if they are experiencing any discomfort, then the dose should be increased back to where it was. Some clinics apparently tell people that "They are addicts and will always have to take methadone". But this is not too surprising-the methadone clinics only stay in business if their clients remain addicted.)
· Even if the methadone addict who is now taking 80 to 240 milligrams of methadone decides that he or she has to stop, there are few rehabilitation centers that will accept people on more than 80 milligrams per day, so the person has to either face serious withdrawal pains, find one of the few medical detox centers that will accept high dosage methadone users, or stay on methadone.
· The real truth is that switching an addict to a different addiction never really made sense. The real solution was and will always be to help the addict become drug-free.
No responsible person can dispute the fact that as the doses of opioids like methadone or oxycodone increase, people's cognitive abilities and their reaction time are adversely affected more and more. They can also experience other side effects such as being more susceptible to illnesses.
Perhaps the saddest part of the methadone experiment is that our society encourages these former heroin addicts to take more and more methadone, since it costs the same if the dose is 10 milligrams or 200 milligrams.
Every time a methadone addict gets clean, the only groups that lose are the drug companies that produce methadone and the methadone clinics who lose money. The rest of society wins and the former methadone addict wins most of all.
THE SOLUTION--REHAB
There are many effective rehabilitation facilities that are successful in helping people become drug-free. These rehabilitation facilities are located all over the world. However, despite the desire of these rehabilitation facilities to help, few if any will accept someone on a dose of methadone over 80 milligrams per day. The methadone addict that calls is told that they must first bring their methadone usage down to 20-40 milligrams per day and the rehabilitation facility will gladly accept them.
The truth is that most methadone addicts who seek help have tried to withdraw or at least cut down their dose of methadone in the past. Almost all of these people were unsuccessful because they began experiencing painful withdrawal symptoms and stopped their taper. Unfortunately, many of them ended up taking more methadone than they were taking when they started trying to withdraw, and their despair of ever being free of the monster called methadone grew.
The rehabilitation facilities who are not able to accept these methadone addicts have tried to refer them to medical detox facilities, but they have found that there are very few medical detox facilities that will accept a methadone patient taking over 80 milligrams a day of methadone. Some facilities that do accept the patients simply put them in a room and give them some drugs that help alleviate some of the pain, but the patient has some very difficult withdrawal symptoms and often leaves the detox center before completing their withdrawal. Then they go back to the methadone clinic and the despair grows even more.
The solution is to locate a medical detox medical center that will assist a person on an 80 milligram or higher daily dose of methadone complete their withdrawal more comfortably, safely and more quickly from the drug.
Novus Medical Detox Center has developed a protocol that allows a high dosage methadone user to step down from methadone and be completely off all opioids in under two weeks. The highest methadone case that we have handled was in excess of 240 milligrams per day and we have helped people on over 300 milligrams of oxycodone detox in under two weeks.
Needless to say if you are effected by opioids or Methadone or any kind of drug - get yourself detoxed and get yourself or someone elses life ready to be started anew.
Later - Monty
I have been seeing alot of people recently that are affected by Methadone and so I thought it would be apt to do a little article on it.
Methadone, an opioid, was first produced in 1939 at the pharmaceutical laboratories of I.G. Farben in Germany. Named Amidon, while there is evidence that some testing was done of the drug, there is no evidence that it was widely used by the Germans in World War II.
After the war, the German patents were voided and Amidon was tested and released in the United States by Eli Lilly in 1947 as Dolophine. Dolophine was derived from the Latin word dolor (pain) and finis (end). Later Dolophine came to be known as methadone. Originally marketed as a pain reliever, it was not until the 1960’s when the number of heroin addicts was accelerating and the negative impact on society became widely known, did the idea of converting the heroin user to a methadone user become accepted as a treatment procedure.
The logic was that even though methadone was in many cases more addictive than heroin, because of its longer half-life, between 12 hours and 96 hours, a person could normally be given one dose of methadone and this would last until the next day. In the case of heroin, the much shorter half life of 4-5 hours meant that the heroin user would have to shoot up more frequently or go into withdrawal. Since the ability to dispense methadone is limited to a relatively small group of providers, it has been considered better to allow addicted heroin users to obtain legal methadone because there is less criminality and disease. In addition, since the user is not forced to seek another dose until the next day, it can allow someone to hold a job and lead a more regular life.
Now I know that if you are reading this you must say to yourself, okay this does not seem to bad, well hold on folks as this is not what you will think after reading the following.
Methadone is a trap, and this is why:
· A 1999 study done at the University of London found that methadone actually increased the cravings for heroin. Many methadone users supplement their "high" with other illegal drugs like prescription narcotics or even heroin. (Illegal drug dealers now can be found around these clinics because business is brisk.)
· Most methadone users are forced to come to the methadone clinics and wait in long lines every day or at least once a week. Because the number of methadone clinics is limited by law, some methadone users have to drive 50-80 miles a day and when they arrive, stand in line for an hour or more to get their methadone dose that will keep them from going into withdrawal, and then they go to work.
· The first thing a methadone addict often must do when considering moving is not check on the schools for their children but on the location of the nearest methadone clinic.
· Almost all of the people who switched to methadone from heroin have seen the amount of their daily methadone dose increase-to 100 milligrams or even much higher. In most cases the addict is now taking a much higher dosage of methadone than the equivalent amount of heroin that they were using.
· Almost none of these former heroin addicts have been able to wean themselves off methadone. (Some complain that the methadone clinics don't help their clients wean off. Apparently many clinics tell the methadone addict who is trying to taper down but experiences some withdrawal symptoms that if they are experiencing any discomfort, then the dose should be increased back to where it was. Some clinics apparently tell people that "They are addicts and will always have to take methadone". But this is not too surprising-the methadone clinics only stay in business if their clients remain addicted.)
· Even if the methadone addict who is now taking 80 to 240 milligrams of methadone decides that he or she has to stop, there are few rehabilitation centers that will accept people on more than 80 milligrams per day, so the person has to either face serious withdrawal pains, find one of the few medical detox centers that will accept high dosage methadone users, or stay on methadone.
· The real truth is that switching an addict to a different addiction never really made sense. The real solution was and will always be to help the addict become drug-free.
No responsible person can dispute the fact that as the doses of opioids like methadone or oxycodone increase, people's cognitive abilities and their reaction time are adversely affected more and more. They can also experience other side effects such as being more susceptible to illnesses.
Perhaps the saddest part of the methadone experiment is that our society encourages these former heroin addicts to take more and more methadone, since it costs the same if the dose is 10 milligrams or 200 milligrams.
Every time a methadone addict gets clean, the only groups that lose are the drug companies that produce methadone and the methadone clinics who lose money. The rest of society wins and the former methadone addict wins most of all.
THE SOLUTION--REHAB
There are many effective rehabilitation facilities that are successful in helping people become drug-free. These rehabilitation facilities are located all over the world. However, despite the desire of these rehabilitation facilities to help, few if any will accept someone on a dose of methadone over 80 milligrams per day. The methadone addict that calls is told that they must first bring their methadone usage down to 20-40 milligrams per day and the rehabilitation facility will gladly accept them.
The truth is that most methadone addicts who seek help have tried to withdraw or at least cut down their dose of methadone in the past. Almost all of these people were unsuccessful because they began experiencing painful withdrawal symptoms and stopped their taper. Unfortunately, many of them ended up taking more methadone than they were taking when they started trying to withdraw, and their despair of ever being free of the monster called methadone grew.
The rehabilitation facilities who are not able to accept these methadone addicts have tried to refer them to medical detox facilities, but they have found that there are very few medical detox facilities that will accept a methadone patient taking over 80 milligrams a day of methadone. Some facilities that do accept the patients simply put them in a room and give them some drugs that help alleviate some of the pain, but the patient has some very difficult withdrawal symptoms and often leaves the detox center before completing their withdrawal. Then they go back to the methadone clinic and the despair grows even more.
The solution is to locate a medical detox medical center that will assist a person on an 80 milligram or higher daily dose of methadone complete their withdrawal more comfortably, safely and more quickly from the drug.
Novus Medical Detox Center has developed a protocol that allows a high dosage methadone user to step down from methadone and be completely off all opioids in under two weeks. The highest methadone case that we have handled was in excess of 240 milligrams per day and we have helped people on over 300 milligrams of oxycodone detox in under two weeks.
Needless to say if you are effected by opioids or Methadone or any kind of drug - get yourself detoxed and get yourself or someone elses life ready to be started anew.
Later - Monty
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