Is Methadone Bad?

Many people label methadone as bad and I disagree with that. I also disagree with the people that state addicts are just trading one addiction for another.

 Methadone helps by giving the addict a chance to live now, a chance at focusing on turning their lives around and a chance at dealing with the deeper issues that many have.

Personally, I am grateful for methadone and what it has done for me. I couldn’t just pick up and leave for detox, as I live in a town where there is no detox facility, I also have a full time job and am unable to leave and sustain myself without it. So methadone was the obvious choice for me and knowing that I was serious about recovery, I knew that I could make it work. 

Now I wake up and drink my dose as part of my regular routine, just like taking medication for Asthma or any other disease. I do not get high from my dose and I do not seek out any other drug to get me high either. I have tried detoxing myself and this did not work, I always started up again.

Methadone is a tool that must be used with seriousness and with respect. If you find it is not for you, then there are plenty of other options that can be explored. Recovery is not something that should be taken lightly and all options should be researched before you start on any type of program. Once on a program, you must be serious about getting and staying clean. Relapses will always happen and it does not mean you are a terrible person at all (I know because I have relapsed many times and I am not a terrible person)

The hardest part will be changing the environment in which you are accustomed. You may have only known this way of life and spent most of your time with drug using friends. You can’t expect to stay clean when you are continually around people who are using drugs in front of you.

Change is the hardest part for anyone, whether they have addictions or not. If most people were to stop and think of a vice that they have, no matter what it may be, they would then know how hard it is to just walk away and not think of that particular thing or slip and have that second piece of cheesecake or buy that next lottery ticket.  

Change usually invokes fear in people and that is why they avoid changing at all costs. It’s not because they are bad people or they don’t want to change the road they are on, it’s just that fear can be crippling sometimes. It is terribly hard to leave a comfort zone, even if that comfort zone is not the most comfortable place to be.
Starting anything new in life is scary and sometimes it takes a little while to make the jump into the unknown.

Nobody should be judged and nobody should point fingers at how differently someone approaches their recovery. Methadone helps ease the fear about withdrawal and helps ease the fear about starting on a new path. It gives hope to people who think all hope was gone.

No Methadone is not bad and it does not mean that anyone on methadone is still in active addiction either, despite what many people say about it! Again it is fear on those people’s part as well, fear of what a methadone clinic will bring into their neighborhood and fear of addicts because they don’t understand.

Methadone gets blamed for many things, such as doctors just making money from it, well I have got news for people saying this; think of the pharmaceutical companies and any other company in the world, they are all making top dollar from what they do, so why is methadone any different. If there was not methadone then there would be something else to take it’s place and it would probably be far worse than what people consider methadone to be.

Not all people are going to like methadone as their recovery tool, not all people will have a good experience with methadone either, it’s just like anything in life. There is plenty of research available regarding methadone to make a decision whether or not this drug is for you. Be sure to check out the following links to get you started:

http://www.oatc.ca/resources/methadone-related-research/

           http://www.crchealth.com/find-a-treatment-center/opiate-addiction-treatment-centers/methadone-detox-research/

I may not change any minds on methadone but at least I can share my opinion. If you wish to share your opinion on methadone or just want to share your story, then please feel free to leave a comment! There are no judgements made here!