USA. Rigid rules at methadone clinics are jeopardizing patients’ path to recovery from opioid addiction
USA. Rigid rules at methadone clinics are jeopardizing patients’ path to recovery from opioid addiction
DETROIT — Every morning, Rebecca Smith, nursing a surgically repaired knee, carefully walks down the hallway of her brutalist brick apartment building, takes the elevator one floor to the lobby, and negotiates the sharply angled driveway outside. There, she waits for an Uber to take her to the last place she wants to go: her methadone clinic.
It is her most despised ritual. Smith, 65, is a former medical assistant, a grandmother, and a widow. She has not used illegal drugs in over five years, thanks in large part to methadone, a common medication that is highly effective at treating opioid addiction. But methadone, which once promised Smith freedom from drugs, has made her a prisoner to the drug-treatment system. Like hundreds of thousands of other Americans, she spends each morning journeying to and from her clinic, all so she can wait in line to swallow a small cup’s worth of medication. (Stat News, USA, 12.03.2024)
https://www.statnews.com/2024/03/12/methadone-clinics-rigid-rules-opioid-addiction-recovery/