Methadone clinics provide methadone maintenance treatment to people who are trying to recover from opiate addiction. In theory, patients come to methadone clinics each day to receive medication (methadone) that controls their opiate withdrawal symptoms so they can live a normal life while seeking substance abuse treatment, and avoid some of the worst symptoms of opiate withdrawal. In reality, methadone clinics have a number of drawbacks that severely limit their effectiveness.
Patients May Have to Travel to Reach the Nearest Clinic
An opiate addict who wants methadone treatment may find that there are no methadone clinics near where he or she lives. Because of the stigma attached to addiction, and opiate addiction in particular, many communities don’t want methadone clinics. As a result, opiate addicts must often choose between traveling great distances every day to reach a clinic, and continuing to abuse heroin or prescription drugs.
Methadone Is Strictly Controlled
Methadone has a high potential for abuse and it’s not unheard of for opiate addicts to obtain it on the black market when other opiate drugs are hard to come by. As a result, methadone clinics tightly control how much methadone is dispensed, and to whom.
This can result in humiliation for many patients, who find themselves directly supervised even when giving urine samples, for example. New patients are not allowed to take any methadone home with them, and even longer term patients who are given a take-home supply may be asked to report to the clinic or to a pharmacy on short notice to prove that they have not been abusing their methadone.
Patients at methadone clinics can’t really travel, because they’re dependent on their specific provider for methadone. If they’re arrested for any reason, they can’t get methadone. If they can’t make it to the clinic for their daily methadone dose, they’ll go into withdrawal. They’re also vulnerable to abuses of power on the part of the prescribing physician.
Methadone Patients May Be Tempted to Quit Their Programs
That’s because spending time in a methadone clinic will bring them into contact with people who may still be active addicts. It’s important to cut these kinds of ties if you want to recover from addiction.
If you want to quit using heroin or other opiates, outpatient detox with Suboxone is the way to go. Call us today at 1-888-699-5679 to learn more.