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The Many Faces of Meth: |
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(Source: Multnomah County Sheriff's Office - Faces of Meth™) |
Is The Use Of Medications Like Methadone Simply Replacing One Drug Addiction With Another?
No. As used in maintenance treatment , methadone
and LAAM are not heroin substitutes. They are safe and
effective medications for opiate addiction that are administered
by mouth in regular, fixed doses. Their pharmacological
effects are markedly different from those of heroin.
Injected , s n o rt e d , or smoked heroin causes an almost immediate “rush” or brief period of euphoria that wears off very
quickly, terminating in a “crash.” The individual then expe-
riences an intense craving to use more heroin to stop the
crash and reinstate the euphoria. The cycle of euphoria,
crash, and craving—repeated several times a day —leads
to a cycle of addiction and behavioral disruption. These
characteristics of heroin use result from the drug’s rapid onset
of action and its short duration of action in the brain . An individual
who uses heroin multiple times per day subjects his or
her brain and body to marked , rapid fluctuations as the opiat e
e ffects come and go. functions. Because heroin is illegal,
addicted persons often become part of a volatile drug - using
street culture characteized by hustling and crimes for profit .
Methadone and LAAM have far more gradual onsets of
action than heroin, and as a result, patients stabilized on
these medications do not experience any rush . In addition ,
both medications wear off much more slowly than heroin,
so there is no sudden crash, and the brain and body are
not exposed to the marked fluctuations seen with heroin
use. Maintenance treatment with methadone or LAAM
markedly reduces the desire for heroin. If an individual
maintained on adequate, regular doses of methadone (once
a day) or LAAM (several times per week) tries to take
heroin, the euphoric effects of heroin will be significantly
blocked . According to research , patients undergoing maintenance
treatment do not suffer the medical abnormalities
and behavioral destabilization that rapid fluctuations in
drug levels cause in heroin addicts.
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