Detoxification by methadone begins in Hai Phong

16:49' 29/04/2008 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – From now to the end of December 2008, two clinics in the coastal city of Hai Phong will use methadone to detoxify 700 heroin addicts.
Methadone is a gentle drug which is used to gradually replace heroin for drug addicts. Hai Phong is the first place the Health Ministry has permitted to use methadone in treatment. In May, the new treatment method using methadone will be applied in HCM City.
Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as an analgesic, antitussive and maintenance anti-addictive for use in patients addicted to opioids. It was developed in Germany in 1937. Although chemically unlike morphine or heroin, methadone also acts on the opioid receptors and thus produces many of the same effects.
Methadone is a rigorously well-tested medication that is safe and efficacious for the treatment of narcotic withdrawal and dependence. For more than 30 years this synthetic narcotic has been used to treat opioid addiction. Heroin releases an excess of dopamine in the body and causes users to need an opiate continuously occupying the opioid receptor in the brain. Methadone occupies this receptor and is the stabilising factor that permits addicts on methadone to change their behaviour and to discontinue heroin use.
Taken orally once a day, methadone suppresses narcotic withdrawal for between 24 and 36 hours. Because methadone is effective in eliminating withdrawal symptoms, it is used in detoxifying opiate addicts. It is, however, only effective in cases of addiction to heroin, morphine, and other opioid drugs, and it is not an effective treatment for other drugs. Methadone reduces the cravings associated with heroin use and blocks the high from heroin, but it does not provide the euphoric rush. Consequently, methadone patients do not experience the extreme highs and lows that result from the waxing and waning of heroin levels in the blood. Ultimately, the patient remains physically dependent on the opioid, but is freed from the uncontrolled, compulsive, and disruptive behaviour seen in heroin addicts.
Methadone maintenance treatment provides the heroin addict with individualised health care and medically prescribed methadone to relieve withdrawal symptoms, reduces opiate cravings, and brings about a biochemical balance in the body. Important elements in heroin treatment include comprehensive social and rehabilitation services.
The Health Ministry has chosen Methadone because of its advantages like it can be taken orally so it can reduce HIV transmission and other diseases transmitted via blood, is less addictive than other kinds of drugs, and drug addicts only need to take it once a day.
Methadone has been used in detoxification for 40 years in the world and the World Health Organisation has added it to its list of essential medicines.