Pubdate: Sat, 23 Jul 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: Sarah Wakeman
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v16/n481/a08.html

FOR CHRONIC DISEASE OF ADDICTION, METHADONE IS A LIFESAVER

In "Life and loss on Methadone Mile" Nestor Ramos and Evan Allen 
describe the chaos and power of active addiction. The article focuses 
on the very visible individuals who continue to struggle with active 
heroin addiction or with misuse of prescription medications. What is 
missing is a narrative of hope for a disease that is as treatable as 
hypertension or asthma.

Most people will get better, and the life-saving medications 
methadone and buprenorphine are the most effective pathway to 
recovery, not detoxification. Those doing well on medication are 
often invisible. The intense stigma surrounding methadone and 
buprenorphine, evidenced by the derogatory term "Methadone Mile," 
leads many not to disclose their treatment as they quietly go on to 
live meaningful lives in recovery.

Calling methadone addictive perpetuates an unfortunate 
misunderstanding of the disease of addiction. Individuals taking 
medication to successfully treat addiction are physiologically 
dependent, just as someone taking insulin for diabetes requires a 
daily shot to be able to function normally. Both will get sick if 
they stop the medication. But someone on methadone is no more 
"addicted" than any person who relies on a daily prescription to keep 
a chronic disease under good control.

Dr. Sarah Wakeman

Boston

The writer is the medical director of the substance use disorder 
initiative at Massachusetts General Hospital and is an assistant 
professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom