AMA SUPPORTS METHADONE

Research has proven opiate addiction is a chronic relapsing disease of the
brain. Like other chronic disorders, there is a medical treatment that
helps to keep this disease under control. This treatment is opioid agonist
therapy, in particular methadone maintenance treatment.

Methadone treatment was recognized by the American Medical Association as
having proven public health and patient health benefits in 1999.

This declaration followed a 1995 report from the Institute of Medicine and
a 1997 National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Panel. Both
recommended that opiate addiction be treated more like other medical
conditions. The Institutes of Medicine said that of all forms of drug
treatment, "methadone maintenance has been the most rigorously studied
modality and has yielded uniform positive results ... consumption of all
illicit drugs, especially heroin, declines."

Addiction knows no boundaries. It is a disease that affects all segments of
our communities. Methadone treatment gives hope to men and women caught in
the devastation of opiate addiction.

Stigma is a major factor that impacts methadone treatment today. Patients
experience discrimination in employment, vocational opportunities, from
health care professionals (including some substance abuse treatment
providers), and sometimes from their families and friends. Many supporters
believe this attitude comes from the misinformation that surrounds the
treatment.

Research has shown that methadone maintenance is the most effective
treatment for opiate addiction. It also has shown the longer a patient
stays in treatment, the better the chance for success.

Methadone patients do not get high from their medication. Methadone does
cause a physical dependence, but it is more like a diabetic's dependence on
insulin, than the addiction to opiates. The behavior that in part defines
addiction is non-existent in a stabilized methadone patient.

However, there are still those who are against the treatment. Some think
patients should be weaned from their medication as soon as possible. While
that goal may be obtainable for some, it has been proven most will need to
be maintained on an agonist drug for long periods of time, some for life.
Best treatment practices call for maintenance as long as necessary.

Patients receiving methadone see the quality of their lives improve
dramatically. It should make no difference that a daily medication is needed.

Jay Clarke

Virginia Alliance of Methadone Advocates

Norfolk, Va.