LONG-TERM METHADONE-MAINTENANCE TREATMENT - SOME CLINICAL EXAMPLES

After 27 years methadone maintenance remains perhaps the most controve rsial form of available opiate addiction treatment. Recognizing that m any patients choose to remain in methadone treatment for extended peri ods of time the authors have wondered whether such patients might actu ally be harmed by long-term involvement. A review of the records of 3 patients who had been in continuous treatment for 15 years or more rev ealed that all of their lives had improved over the course of their tr eatment involvement. They varied in the length of time required before they showed improvement and all three indicated that they wished to r emain on methadone because previously they had resumed drug use when t hey tried detoxing either alone or in treatment. There were periods du ring their treatment involvement when these patients were not doing we ll and could have been regarded as treatment failures. Continuing on i n treatment, ho wever, all three had made positive changes in their li ves, changes which were of benefit to the society as well as the indiv idual.