THEIR PAIN IS LIVING IN THE METHADONE TRAP

IF PEOPLE who know best can be believed, methadone is more of a compulsive
trap than heroin.

Five self-confessed women addicts grabbed a moment in the all-embracing
media spotlight on the drug summit, to say getting off methadone is harder
than getting off heroin.

Aged 18 to early 40s, they were a collective of regret. Strangers linked
umbilically by pain and sorrow.

They are inmates at a half-way house, some after completing jail sentences.
Their formal address is Earlwood but, in reality, they live on the edge of
nowhere.

In a half-way house they are safe. Leaving it exposes them to unemployment,
no support and a painful drift back to drug culture friends.

Michelle was aged 12 when her 18-year-old brother gave her heroin.

"By 15, I was a full time addict," she said.

Then the words came tumbling out from everyone at the table.

Dreams, regrets and repressed ambitions tumbled over each other in a rush
for life before the chance was gone.

"Once you get on methadone, you can't get off it. "

"It is harder to get off than heroin. It's a toxic drug."

"I've been on methadone for seven years. It's not a long-term solution.

"It [methadone] kept me clean for two years. Then I was back on it. It
doesn't stop the narcotic hunger.

"I've been on methadone for nine years. I know people who have been on it
for 15 years.

"My parents? They're alive, but I'm a heroin addict. That's it."

"[Metha]Done is harder to get off than heroin.

"I want to get off. I've got five children aged five, 10, 16 and
13-year-old twins. Three are in Coffs Harbour with Mum. Two in Sydney.

"My oldest is 18. He's an addict. He's overdosed and dropped so many times,
I've forgotten.

"Drugs make women finish on their backs and men turn to crime.

"Sometimes it takes 30 minutes for ambulances to come. When they know it's
an overdose, they don't care."

"I've never been employed. Depends what you mean by employed."

"I've been in jail. I'm staying [at the half-way house] ..."