Someone’s got it right here and they are not afraid to say it – methadone or other replacement therapies are not as good as just good old fashion abstinence and drug rehab.

The only way to freedom from drugs is to walk down a path that is not always easy to travel.  However, at least the travelers are moving towards a definable goal and not standing still while pretending they are getting somewhere.

Opiate addiction is not best treated by more opiates, just like diabetes is not well treated by eating more sugar.

“It is estimated that close to 10 percent of the Bangor population abuse illicit drugs, not including marijuana. More Mainers die annually from drug overdoses than car accidents. If these statistics surprise you, you’re not alone.

So, what can be done for people trapped in these horrible addictions?

When I’m not in class, doing homework or trying to figure out something to write in this column, I work at the Derek House — a traditional drug and alcoholism rehabilitation center in Bangor. It is a nine-month program that includes group therapy, individual counseling, life skills teaching, coping strategy classes and of course, the message of total abstinence from addictive substances.

This form of treatment is not bulletproof, but if clients take it seriously and really work toward their sobriety, it can be profoundly effective.

There is a radically different form of treatment available and it has government approval despite strong opposition from some traditional rehab clinics like the Derek House. It’s called drug replacement therapy, and it does more harm than good.

Instead of helping addicts get off drugs by helping them get off drugs, this new “treatment” helps addicts get off illegal drugs by getting them hooked on legal drugs. The most common example of this is methadone, a synthetic opioid given to abusers of heroin and other opiates. Because it affects the same brain receptors, methadone easily replaces their addiction to illicit drugs with an addiction to methadone, which is more potent than street drugs and has stronger withdrawal symptoms.

Bangor has three methadone clinics that treat about 1,300 people daily. I believe the people who oversee these clinics honestly think they are helping addicts. But the evidence doesn’t show that. According to the director of Addiction Treatment Services at Bangor’s largest methadone clinic, Brent Scobie, about half of their 650 methadone patients have been on the treatment for more than five years.”

http://mainecampus.com/2009/09/24/op-ed-methadone-not-the-answer-for-eastern-maine%E2%80%99s-addicts/