About Methadone and Buprenorphine - Drug Policy Alliance

IntroductionYou may be reading this bookbecause you are taking methadoneor because you are thinking abouttaking methadone – or because youcare about somebody who is.People usually enter methadonetreatment because they feel overwhelmedby their dependence onheroin or other opioids. But noteveryone who comes into methadonemaintenance has the samegoals. Some people want to stoptaking street opioids for good. Somewant to temporarily stop taking streetopioids. And some want to reduce orre-regulate their use of street opioids.Some people begin methadonewith the belief that they will needmedication indefinitely. Others feelthat they will only need it for a shorttime. Regardless of what you hopeto get from methadone maintenance,however, all the evidence agrees onthese several points:• People dependent on street opioidswho receive methadone treatment arehealthier and safer than those who donot. They live longer, spend less timein jail and in the hospital, are lessoften infected with HIV, and commitfewer crimes.• Longer periods of methadonemaintenance are better than shorterperiods. The longer you stay onmethadone maintenance, the betterthe overall outcome. Indefinite treatmentoften means life-long extensionof good health, HIV seronegativity,and freedom from incarceration.• Methadone maintenance is treatmentfor people who are dependent onopioid drugs. It is not a treatmentfor people whose major problemsare with other drugs – such ascocaine, alcohol, benzodiazepines,or cigarettes.Opioid drugs include all the drugsthat come fully or partially from opiumand synthetic drugs that have similareffects. Morphine, heroin, codeine,methadone, dilaudid, buprenorphine,LAAM, OxyContin, and fentanylare opioids.4About Methadone and Buprenorphine