A recent letter writer argued that the treatment that worked in his recovery is appropriate for other opiate addicts and that methadone treatment denies them "true recovery, keeping them in a helpless state of mind."

This one-size-fits-all mentality contradicts the fact that people have varying benefits from similar treatments for any disease. For opiate addiction, there is no single treatment that works best for everyone.

The writer holds that methadone treatment is "replacing one drug for another." By this reasoning, a person "self-medicating" with alcohol for depression should not take antidepressant medications, but should just quit the booze and buck up.

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