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I used heroin in my late 20s, eventually using it up to 5 times a day for a year.

But thanks to methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), I've been clean for 15 years.

Before MMT, I tried quitting on my own, but after the detox period, I always returned to heroin.

The detox period is the week portrayed in many movies, when addicts suffer extreme withdrawal symptoms. Unfortunately, those movies imply that, once the withdrawal symptoms go, so does the addiction.

In reality, 90% of heroin addicts who detox will return to heroin.

Decades ago, this was mistakenly called "psychological addiction."  Now scientists know that this, too, is physical addiction because the brain is a physical organ, physically changed by heroin.

So a heroin addict develops cravings for heroin comparable to the cravings that any person might feel for sleep, food, water, or sex. And the cravings for heroin persist, perhaps for life.

But methadone, in sufficient doses, all but eliminates cravings for heroin.

Some say methadone is just another addiction. Yet heroin addicts treated with methadone never crave methadone. If the methadone wears off, they just crave heroin.

Methadone does create a dependency, but dependency itself is not addiction. Addiction is a dependency characterized by an ever-worsening quality of life. In contrast, MMT improves one's quality of life. Studies show that the longer addicts receive MMT, the better their quality of life.

Ten years ago, prominent U.S. scientists in the field of addiction treatment held a national press conference announcing that MMT is a cure for heroin addiction -- and one far more effective than any other treatment for any other addiction.

But, they said, methadone is poorly administered in the U.S. via expensive, stigmatized clinics, where absurd restrictions are imposed and doses are often prescribed below therapeutic levels.

So the scientists called for legal reforms to permit regular doctors to treat heroin addiction with MMT outside specialized clinics.

Sadly, the scientists' suggestions have yet to be implemented in the U.S.

The time has come to consider heroin as a health issue, not a criminal issue.

So the question is, when will we give treatment a real chance?

Steve
SE Portland

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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hi,

I was a heroin addict, and for a year, I injected 5 times per day. I've now been clean 15 years, thanks to methadone.

Shortly after I began using heroin, I relied on a needle-exchange program in Boulder, Colorado.

The needle exchange program was great -- not only did it provide me with clean needles (which helped me to avoid HIV & Hepatitis C), the program also gave me someone to talk with, however briefly, about what I was doing.

And it was my needle-exchange connection who first pointed out to me that I had become an addict. And later, he also served as an inspiring role model for me, since he had been an addict himself, but had been clean for 10 years.

Years later, after I'd become clean, I worked at two harm reduction programs, and I served as a role model myself for at least two people who were impressed to know that I had become clean and was leading a good life with the help of methadone.

By the way, I think harm reduction is great. But the quality of the programs depend greatly upon the staff and the administration of each program.

Sincerely,
Steve, SE Portland

PS: Heroin addicts speak of "getting straight" when they use heroin. Heroin is necessary for an addict to function normally and safely in society. I even had to use when I went on a day-long driving trip -- or I would not have been able to drive my car safely.

posted 3 years, 2 months ago
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