Truth about Methadone

Truth about Methadone

Drug addictions, like cancer, are terrifying conditions to the victims because of the feelings of hopelessness and abandonment generated by the rigors of and general failure of the orthodox “treatments.”

Although crude opium addiction has a very long history, the large-scale addictive use of morphine salts, in this country, is generally dated from their use on wounded Civil War soldiers. Following 1864, morphine addiction was realized to be an emerging socially significant problem in this country; therefore searches were instituted to find less addicting drugs. The year 1890 saw the introduction of heroin. For about five more decades, to the year 1912, nothing was done to stop the rising tide of morphine and heroin users in this country. The realization of that fact prompted in that year the organizing of legal opiate clinics, not however to treat the addict, only to support the user’s habit in an attempt to stem the rising crime rate and sales of black market drugs. These legal opiate clinics remained open until 1924 when they were closed down as dismal failures. It took until the mid-1950’s, another fallow period of about 30 years, before another major attempt started, the Methadone Program, which has continued up to the present. This program embraces the concept of orally giving a legally addicting drug (methadone) in place of an illegal addicting drug (heroin).

The lack of success in handling drug addiction, until now, is due to placing the emphasis on the legal aspects of the problem, mainly that of the crime and punishment concept, and ignoring the mental and physical condition of the addicts and neglecting to treat the health and metabolic problems of the victims. Drug addicts suffer from severe metabolic dysfunctions and are very sick people. Any attempted solution to the drug addiction problem which fails to bring total health back to the addict is doomed to failure.