Lewis said:
Of course I don't understand opiate addiction. I wasn't aiming my comment at you, by the way, more the media which publicises it as a 'safe alternative'. Sorry if it looked like a personal attack on you - I guess I worded it badly!
Ok Lewis, i too am sorry if i sounded a bit harsh. And i apologise if i sound harsh in this post...i don't mean to be, im just being direct. And sorry its a long read, i tend to ramble on and on and on sometimes!
Are you saying you DON'T understand opiate addiction, or do you mean you DO understand opiate addiction?
Cos if you do...then you will realise that methadone
IS a "safe alternative" ((to street heroin...where MANY more people O.D and O.D fatally than people using methadone, esp. people PRESCRIBED methadone....The fact is that the media is ((in this RARE instance, when it comes to drugs!)) RIGHT.
Methadone is a MUCH safer alternative to using street heroin with all the negative complications that brings. The fact is, that prescribed methadone is no-more dangerous than all the prescribed morphine or pethidine they use in hospitals.
You don't hear the media blame hospitals for using morphine on someone who broke their legs in a car accident do you? The only reason methadone is controversal is because its a REPLACEMENT opioid for an opioid addict. And as we all know too well from the media "drugs are baad" and that means addicts are "baaad" too. Everyone thinks a heroin user must be homeless, destitute, uneducated, stupid, etc. they don't realise that there are many functioning opiate addicts out there ((like many in the medical profession!!!)). So many people think that methadone is just
indulging drug users, by giving them an easy way to maintain on an opioid when they ((in their opinion)) "should be clean". Well some people
CAN'T stay clean, and
WON'T stay clean. And for these people, using methadone can be
extremely beneficial; if they want to quit, yet they can't.
I was one of the persons who just couldn't "stay clean". I tried numerous times to quit, both when i started out using codeine ((PURE codeine, so i was able to take VERY high dosages; at the end of one binge i was taking enough to kill two people)) and then later heroin. Without an opioid in my system, i feel incomplete. Like im missing something very important. And im much more sick -mentally speaking. I self-injure MUCH more, and MUCH more severely. When on an opioid, i rarely s-injure at all. And when im not on an opioid, im much more depressed, anxious, and have insmonia. When on an opioid these things are much less severe. I realised i just couldn't quit using opiates/opioids without being on an opioid substitute, like bupe or methadone. As i've mentioned, bupe didn't exactly work, so i tried methadone. And methadone HAS worked. I haven't touched illicit drugs for 3 years now.
And im SURE that i won't in the near future ((the longer you make it without your drug/s of choice, the easier it is))...with the help of methadone. I know if i was pulled off methadone tomorrow, i would go straight back to heroin. Purely to make my self feel "normal". And not depressed, anxious, not sleeping, cutting myself to shreds, using alcohol as a substitute ((and its a sh!tty substitute after you've been on opioids, but you NEED some CNS depressant and alcohol is easy to get and legal so....)).
There are numerous reasons WHY methadone is a much "safer alternative" to heroin ((or other (mis)used opioids))...its
not some myth, with methadone you don't get any of the things i listed below, yet you DO get those things if your addicted to heroin ((or another opioid, but mainly heroin));
You have vascular problems as you begin to lose all your veins. You have dire financial problems as your habit spirals out of control. You DO things to get enough money to pay for your drugs...some people resort to dealing, others stealing, or committing other crimes...some people whore themselves out, suck dick or get sucked off to pay for heroin, others work themselves to the bone to pay for their habit. Your relationships fall apart as the drug becomes THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in your life. You become physically dependent on the heroin ((or other opioid, it could be morphine, pethidine, fentanyl, oxycodone etc.)) and get really sick without it.
Then when you can no longer sustain your binge, you go into withdrawals...horrible withdrawals where you get sick as a dog, but WORSE -you know the cure is only a phone call away, and you shoot up one little rock and you'll feel ALL BETTER. Plus the psychological symptoms of opiate withdrawals which i think are often over-looked cos it causes physical withdrawals as well...but you have severe depression, severe anxiety, severe insomnia ((in the 7 days it takes to get partially "free" from physical withdrawals, you only get a few hours sleep, even if you are drugged up to your eyeballs on CNS depressants)), etc.
Even for people who are taking say...hydrocodone ((mixed with paracetamol/acetaminophen)) ((lets call it
APAP for short)) methadone is safer. Sure methadone is a MUCH more potent and powerful opioid than hydrocodone, but the hydro addict may be killing their liver due to all the APAP ((dunno why the americans call it acetaminophen!?!?))...then methadone could potentially save their life, by saving their liver. Cos "abuse" of hydrocodone with APAP can be extremely dangerous...people don't realize that popping some extra vicoden can really give the ole liver a hefty beating.
The only negative and TRUE negative thing about methadone, is its withdrawals. It's withdrawals are worse than heroin withdrawals or morphine withdrawals, mainly cos the withdrawals are so prolonged ((cos methadone is such a long acting opioid)). Where as it may take a
week or two to get over the physical withdrawal symptoms of heroin, it may take
weeks or months to get over methadone withdrawals. This is one definate negative. And believe me, if i had the opportunity, i would choose to be medicated with MORPHINE instead of methadone due to methadone's severe withdrawal symptoms. This makes it extremely difficult to get off methadone. Although now that buprenorphine is available...one could taper down to 30mg or less of methadone, then wait until your well and truly into withdrawals from methadone, then hop onto buprenorphine. Then stabilze, and taper from there. As its MUCH easier to get off bupe than methadone.
But i think you have a skewed view of methadone. Maybe its cos you haven't experienced opiate addiction first-hand. Maybe its because you've never actually used methadone to come off a dangerous and harmful habit when using heroin. Maybe its cos you've somehow read the wrong information. I don't know. But believe me, methadone is
just as safe as the morphine they give to patients in hospital -under the supervision of a doctor, and prescribed to the right person for the right reasons. Now if some opiate-naive person drinks a large dose of methadone, of COURSE they're going to die. But that is the same as using heroin -and many more people die from heroin O.D's than methadone O.D's. This is indisputable. But when methadone ((or ANY opioid for that matter)) is PRESCRIBED and you take the dose that is prescribed for you...you won't die, you won't O.D. You will however, reap the beneficial effects of methadone.
This could be reduced cravings for heroin, getting stabilized on methadone, and possibly using methadone to better your life. Many people have been given the ability to better their life when they decide to use prescription methadone over street heroin. Instead of collapsing all their veins, risking bacterial infections at the site of the injection or other parts of the body like the heart ((a-la endocarditis)), not having any money for necessities, doing "dodgy" things or plain horrible things to get $$$ to finance your habit, risking O.D, risking fatal O.D, ruining relationships with people you like/love cos your too busy chasing down the drug, doing things to get $$$ for the drug, and using the drug....ALL of these things you can AVOID when using methadone. So yes, methadone
IS A SAFE ALTERNATIVE to using street heroin ((or, like i said already, some much weaker opioids like hydrocodone, due to the amount of APAP being ingested which is terrible for the liver and can cause liver failure)).
I hope you can see things from my point of view. I know this from the "information" point of view ((i do my research on methadone, heroin, all opioids actually as well as other drugs; but opioids in particular fascinate me)), but ALSO from a "user's" point of view. Again, sorry if i seem harsh...i just disagree completley when you say methadone isn't a "safe alternative" ((to heroin)),
because IT IS.
Sorry that was so long, didn't mean to ramble on and on
