Methadone no cure-all for drug addiction

IT comes as no surprise to read that those on methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) programmes continue to use other illicit drugs.

Methadone, while easing the physical craving for heroin, does not fulfil the psychological craving of dependent drug-users for a ‘high’, so they will seek that in other drugs such as cocaine and cannabis.

Consequently, the ‘harm minimisation’ claimed by MMT programmes is severely diluted, but that fact will not appear in statistics published on the ‘efficacy’ of such programmes.