Methadone

Keeping certain anti-addiction drugs out of the wrong hands

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When people think of anti-addiction drugs, they pay more attention to “anti-addiction” than to “drug”.

The fact remains that these are drugs.

Methadone is a drug, and you can overdose on it.

Just because it replaces heroin does not mean that it’s any less of a drug, addictive, or dangerous, and should only be administered under supervision.

This is especially true when it comes to children.

A recent study shows that far too many children are getting their hands on anti-addiction drugs–and landing themselves in the hospital.

For every 100,000 patients prescribed buprenorphine, 200 young children were hospitalized for taking it, the study found. That rate is more than four times higher than the statistic for the next most commonly implicated drug, a blood pressure medicine. Almost 800 youngsters a year were hospitalized after swallowing buprenorphine…

Buprenorphine is an important anti-addiction drug, and while it’s “an opioid up to 50 times more potent as a painkiller than morphine”, it’s highly effective in helping with drug withdrawals. And according to the study, over 400,000 patients have been administered the drug.

Keeping drugs out of the hands of children starts with responsible parents and caregivers. If you’re currently taking or are considering taking buprenorphine, please keep it in a safe place away from children.

This new methadone alternative can save lives

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Methadone is commonly used as a drug to help wean heroin addicts off the opioid drug.

But the drug is extremely dangerous, with deaths increasing exponentially in recent years.

Scientists have been trying to develop an alternative to methadone for years, and may finally have the answer in a new substance: diacetylmorphine.

Diacetylmorphine is the active ingredient in heroin, which seems like it would be more dangerous and more addictive.

However, scientists have found that it could still be the safe alternative to methadone:

Based on projections from the model, an average individual in a methadone program would live 14.54 years – less than nine years in treatment, and about five and a half years in relapse, costing society about $1.14-million in health-care, criminal justice and other costs. An average individual taking diacetylmorphine treatment would live 15.43 years – nearly 10 and a half years in treatment and four in relapse, costing society roughly $1.1-million.

The difference in numbers is not enormous, but noticeable enough for scientists to begin to develop it as an alternative medication. Trials have already been conducted among patients.

In fact, in the most important metric of methadone’s effectiveness—relapse—diacetylemorphine shows great improvement:

Specifically, among those taking diacetylmorphine, the rate of retention in addiction-treatment programs was about 88 per cent; it was 54 per cent in the methadone group.

More research will be required, but the promise of initial tests shows promise for future use.