Talk:Methadone

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[edit] Unclear text

The law stipulates clinics may provide at most one week's worth of methadone, (two weeks in the USA) except for patients...

What country does this sentence refer to? 82.139.115.120 (talk) 22:02, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Moved part of the Methadone Chronic Pain section to Abuse section

Clearly the person who wrote this is trying to make a point on the subject and statisics for "death due to Methadone". That is in inappropriate section in which to put a series of anit-methadone propaganda. The coverage of actual methadone treatment for chronic pain is so incomplete that it would be better off being called a Stub. I'd invite the original author to follow conventional Wikipedia formatting and place such writing under a new section called "Criticism". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 138.89.8.11 (talk) 00:47, 1 January 2007 (UTC).

I'd happen to agree....that the "abuse" piece is nothing but a bunch of propaganda that is taking the internet by storm about methadone. The mention of Stewart Leavitt of "Addiction Treatment Forum" was INAPPROPRIATE and unnessary....and should be removed! I would like to see resources from this "writer" (I use that term lightly). I notice they didn't reference back to the mortality study from SAMHSA that says that the methadone diversion does NOT come from methadone clinics. Methadone SAVES lives, not the other way around. I was so disappointed to come here and see that this propaganda had reached Wiki, but certainly not surprised....Carol --Chava 08:31, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Question

i have a question about this.

it says under the buprenorphine section that buprenorphine is a schedule 3 drug and so can be used in outpatient programs, where as methadone cannot.

i am in an outpatient methadone program.

so that obviously refutes that.

i didnt know if things have changed since that was written.

and by things i mean laws. 70.160.42.69 02:23, 16 August 2006 (UTC)joe

Thanks for that. I've removed that sentence pending verification. It seems to me to be false, but I don't have experience with American programs. I've emailed someone involved in American methadone and asked them to comment. Cheers, Sarah (Talk) 03:06, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dangerous Advice

I removed the sentence for the Abuse paragraph

"That said, however, methadone can be snorted to achieve a faster and more pronounced euphoric effect."

This is not only wrong but very dangerous.

[edit] Paragraph removed and line cut

I removed the original paragraph which quotes a British "AA"-type recovery program which denigrates methadone treatment. It was pure opinion and not even a common opinion at that. Modern studies have, in general, found methadone to be the most effective means of treating opiate addiction available. While nothing works for everyone, methadone works for more people than any other treatment. Abstinance programs have been found to have a particuarly high failure rate. All this is, of course, my opinion. But it is here (in Discussion), not presented in a factual encylopedic article. I also removed the sentence "There is no evidence that methadone use decreases dangerous sexual behavior, crime, or psychiatric illness nor does it improve family stability or likelihood of employment." On the contrary, almost every study ever published shows that people in methadone treatment show marked improvement in being able to hold a job, mending damage done to their families by their addiction and cleaning up their legal act. Once again, this isn't true for everyone in methadone treatment but, again, there is no single treatment that works for all and nothing has been as succesful as methadone. Citations? I don't have them in hand but I'll research it. In the meanwhile, that sentence was so completely at odds with the truth that it had to be removed. Finally, the previous poster notes that the part about snorting methadone "was not only wrong but very dangerous". I agree completely.

[edit] Nitpicking

Under the section entitled "Efficacy" it reads "Methadone is a strong opiate that induces analgesia." Technically methadone is completely synthetic and therefore it is not an opiate. Instead it should be labled as an opioid. Bundleofstix 06:01, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Changed "Abuse" section.

In the abuse section, it stated that street methadone sells at............or $25-35 for 100mg or over, which will give you a comfortable high.


100mg is more than enough to overdose someone who does not have a tolerance to opiates. Typically, methadone doses for chronic pain are 10-40mg. Methadone for maitenance from opiate addiction is 40-120mg, sometimes higher depending on tolerance. There have been many documented cases where individuals on a maintenance dose leave their medication unattended where someone close to them gets it, takes it, and overdoses.


63.231.161.179 03:37, 29 January 2007 (UTC)JP

Not to nitpick here, but just an FYI that the standard therapeutic dose range is 80-120mg. --Lisamarie 03:25, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Really? They've been giving me 10mg for chronic pain for years now; I'm pretty sure that I would throw up if I tried to take much more than that at once. Dumb kids kill themselves with a single 10mg dose (normally by combining it with benzodiazapines and/or alcohol, with predictable resulting respiratory depression). 12:35, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Just an FYI on "average dosing". The 80-120 mgs is the "average" dose for treatment of ADDICTION. It can be much lower for pain. --Chava (talk) 08:09, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

No, he's right. 10 mg is the standard dose for chronic pain. They use higher levels for heroin addicts, but I can hardly imagine anyone taking 100mg. I take 10 mg for pain and it makes my head very unclear and slows own my breathing excessively. 100 mg would and has caused people without an opiate tolerance to die because they stop breathing. Check out this site www.erowid.org. It has some very insightful information about the topic.70.129.184.133 (talk) 06:28, 26 April 2008 (UTC)AR

[edit] HARMD link incredibly inappropriate

In going thru this page, I have got to point out that I believe the link to HARMD extremely inappropriate. This site is run with people with a very clear agenda, and the things they say on their site are uncited, and, as far as I know, largely untrue.

For those who are not familiar with this site, I suppose I would categorize it as a tribute page for those people who have died from methadone-related causes. The organization apparently wishes to make methadone regulations more strict. I think it is also worth pointing out that the majority of the "victims of methadone" they pay tribute to had drug problems themselves. I only point this out to demonstrate that the site's premise is, in my opinion, faulty at best.

I don't want to step on anyone's toes and just remove it, but I think this link has no place on this page...at the very least this is worth discussing. Thanks in advance. -Lisa 71.226.227.190 13:42, 5 April 2007 (UTC)


This drug can kill people and it has. The HARMD site contains links to many films and reports and documents on the topic. I understand the rules of neutral posting, but just because someone has a bias towards something doesn't mean it's not actually true. Since this drug stays in your system a lot longer, it's easy to overdose by trying to chase the high, as many recreational drug users often do. The same could be said for someone chasing pain relief and trying to supliment their dose in increments. Also, some people are not opiat tolerant and require much less to overdose. If the reader is intelligent they will form their own opinion based on the materials and references on hand. Propaganda is meant to mislead people and make them believe something that is not true. I don't believe mentioning the fact that methadone is dangerous and can kill people is propaganda. There are verifiable statistics. Oh, and why again is any opinion Scientology (or Tom Cruise) has relevant to any serious article on the academics of a particular drug or medical topic? Why do we care what they think about Dolphine or Adolphine as they call it? Guitardude6969 02:51, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fastball

Methadone is used by Charlie in Fastball's song "Charlie, the Methadone Man". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.43.245.131 (talk) 01:41, 9 April 2007 (UTC).

Hence the name? 62.6.180.130 13:06, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] External Links haunted?

Hi everyone....hope I'm doing this in the right place, never have been too good at this! My website has been under "external links" for a couple years now, give or take. I was wondering why all of a sudden it has been removed? We have some exceptional support ....experts, info etc. and have grown by leaps and bounds. We are now part of CSAT/SAMHSA Patient Support and Community Education project (PSCEP) as well. I could go on and on, but won't torture you. I am HOPING that my "fan club" from HARMD is not responsible in any way....sigh. I tried putting it back, but as it was removed again thought it would be more appropiate to make this post. Hope this finds everyone doing well....regards to Sarah! (I KNOW I'm going to sign this wrong!)--Chava 07:43, 19 April 2007 (UTC) (Carol)


hello people how's is everyone doing i a man that lives in maine and i am takeing methadone for opiates —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.135.132.33 (talk) 22:19, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] qualification for interesting statement

Please notify if there is a reference available to qualify the following statement:

"Individuals maintained on methadone for long periods of time may in fact find it more difficult to give up methadone than people who go directly from heroin use to abstinence."

I have no inclination either to doubt or believe this statement, but I would very much like a reference so that I may further investigate.

Regards, RS —The preceding unsigned comment was added by SteelRegn (talk • contribs) 20:26, 10 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Methadone and paracetamol

If methadone is so much less addictive than shorter acting opiates such as codeine, morphine and heroin, why isn't there mixtures of small amounts of methadone with paracetamol? they do it with codeine.202.161.5.252 08:45, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Because for the patient who has zero opioid tolerance, methadone is so powerful that it could easily kill them, even if they didn't intentionally overdose. The amount needed to provide analgesia comparable to codeine would be dangerous for many people. That's the technical reason. The likely reason is that I SERIOUSLY doubt any gov't wants powerful narcotics freely available where people can be abused or extracted from their preparations and concentrated/sold. Kel - Ex-web.god 05:34, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted inaccurate reference to methadone use in Australia

I attached a 'citation needed' to the statement "Australians have recently utilised methadone to treat amphetamine addictions in the hope of reducing foetal harm among aboriginals." Having left it there for the last month and followed up with local research I can find no evidence of this assertion and will delete it. The use of methadone for this purpose is contrary to the Australian Methadone Guidelines (apart from not having no evidence base whatsoever). I suspect it is just another peice of anti-methadone propoganda. DISEman 05:30, 9 July 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Adverse Effects + Burroughs

First of all, the way the article puts it--"When combined with other drugs, however, methadone can cause death"--makes it sound as if methadone by itself cannot. This is obviously not true, but that's just how the writing makes it sound.

Next, the adverse effect list as it is right now is mild, and missing a couple of things. Such as vomiting, drowsiness, and dizziness. Also possible are delusions/paranoia, a vague but persisting sense of panic and fear, extreme depersonalization, and mild-to-very-extreme depression with suicidal thoughts. These things (especially the vomiting/drowsiness/dizziness which I know are more common than maybe some of the other adverse effects I mentioned) are not in the list which to me seems to play-down the reality.

I've never edited anything and haven't read the rules, plus I don't have sources--I just know what I went through--but if someone could put this in, that might be helpful to someone who say might want to try the drug for "fun" because the side effects seem like child's play. Nausea is like level 3.5 but there's something like level 8 when you're wobbling into the ER, vomiting every five minutes into a cardboard bucket and mentally bargaining with God to let you live.

OK, then the Burroughs thing. I know Burroughs was a big junkie and all, but I don't know if anecdotal sources are appropriate in an article like this considering how different each person's withdrawal experience ultimately is. Specifically, I have a problem with the implication that opiate withdrawal is somehow 'short-acting'. Whether or not it's more pleasant in comparison to barbiturate withdrawal (which by the way is totally irrelevant to the subject of Methadone), the anecdote from Burroughs makes opiate withdrawal sound like a cakewalk. Well fine, but here's another anecdote:

Cold-turkey: It's one week before you finally can walk to the kitchen. You still haven't slept and you'd blow your head off if you just had the damn energy. Week 1-and-a-half you shower out of pure necessity but standing and moving is torture; you're still sneezing every 30 seconds; your mind is on raiding the whole house for some misplaced pill or bag but again, you don't have that energy. Week two you could probably physically operate a vehicle but you "can't" as far as you're concerned; you're shivering; you look at normal people, jealous at how they can do simple things like stand up for more than 40 seconds and are on an unrealistic level confused at how anybody can laugh. Two months and you kind-of feel normal again, but still not completely. I am aware the drug is 'cleared out' of your system well before then but that doesn't mean you still don't feel like hell; and I don't think Burroughs' experience outweighs anyone else's just automatically because he was like the king of opiate abuse. Regardless of some facts about drug properties that might come into play, the withdrawal experience is relative for it depends on a whole multitude of factors (thus, as interesting a man as he was, I don't see how the Burroughs thing is helpful).

Well peace out you crazy clowns. 67.42.233.138 (talk) 14:53, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Sudden death

doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2007.10.009 methadone (used mostly for pain control) seems to have increased the risk of sudden cardiac death in an autopsy-based trial. JFW | T@lk 08:06, 30 January 2008 (UTC)


[edit] A Request

Can someone please add a section regarding the Financial Costs of Methadone Maintainence for the individual addict?

I am on a "Financial Detox" right now (and feeling it BAD!!) because I am not eligible for Medicaid here in CA and have literally depleted my savings paying the $300 per month for the clinical treatment (dosing and counseling only)....I noticed that there is NO MENTION of these clinic fees and the ability or dis-ability of "patients" to afford treatment for themselves......please add a section discussing the high cost per individual and/or the criteria for Medicaid participation in support. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.81.145.171 (talk) 10:15, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Why green?

The article does not explain it's distinctive colour. 86.139.239.58 (talk) 12:01, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Recreational Use

This article lacks any information regarding the non-medical use of methadone. Information about this should be put in the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shade11sayshello (talk • contribs) 03:05, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Methadone Dependence

Even though Methadone is used to treat Heroin addiction, it's still addictive. From what I've read, Methadone can be more addictive than Heroin while at the same time have more severe withdraw symptoms. --shade11 | (Talk • Contribs) 07:21, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Opiates does not damage organs

Please remove this nonsense. All opiates maybe with the exception of meperidine are metabolised and excreted just like any other drug. They do not have any toxic effects on their own. Body and organ damage is a result of injection behaviour and impurities. Btw, methadone is transparent and colourless, any colours is caused by dyes. 83.92.26.209 (talk) 12:23, 8 June 2008 (UTC)