Methadone Pity
September 3, 2008Last week at panel I was lectured by one of Edinburgh’s more infamous junkies that my drinking coffee was just like his 130ml daily methadone/30 ml diazepam script. I’m still struggling with his logic. Coffee makes me alert and able to focus. He and his partner are so strung out that they cannot be left unsupervised with their children.
It’s not class, or prejudice. Alcohol and some other drugs can be managed around childcare but opiates dominate the lives of those using them, financially, physically and in terms of focus. I can let my kids dominate my life some days, in time or emotional energy; they can never put anything else before stablising/being straight. I’m still in favour of decriminalisation but that comes with a cost for those who choose to use the strongest drugs as their way of getting through life. That cost may have to be their right to bring up children; I’ve yet to meet a junkie that can make even a start of a reasonable job of it.
Wow. And how many MMT patients have you met personally?
I have been on MMT for four years. I work full time in a white collar job, working with the public all day every day. I pay all my own bills including my clinic fees. I have not udes any illicit drugs since day one at the clinic. I am not impaired in any way. My family is amazed and thrilled at the changes in my life since getting on MMT.
Mixing this medication with benzos like Valium can cause oversedation and lead to a “strung out” appearance. This may be what was causing this person’s problems. However, to assume that this is what you can expect to see from each methadone patient is ludicrous. Methadone is used precisely because it does NOT, in and of itself, cause a high or euphoria in a stable patient who is not using other drugs. If this was not the case, they could use ANY long acting opiate, but they don’t. Some people do abuse their medication or take other drugs with it, but many more do NOT.
Taking a child away from a loving family is a big decision. Foster care can be good but more often than not is only poor to fair in quality, and there is much to be said in many cases for the love of a natural parent over the obligatory and dutiful care of a foster care home.
People tend to assume that the typical MMT patients are the ones they see lingering outside the clinic, looking wan and groggy. In fact, those who are doing well in MMT are seldom seen at all. They have earned takehome doses and are going about their lives as planned, not looking for drugs.
MMT can be harm reduction for some, and it can be recovery for others. Children in danger shold be removed from their homes, but assuming a child is in danger because a parent is on methadone is completely wrong.
Many parents smoke. They smoke in cars with their children or in the homes, increasing their chances of asthma and allergies. Mine both smoked (I never did) and I had allergies and asthma galore. Many parents enjoy a few drinks now and then at home–should the children be removed because the parents judgment is impaired, and they might toss them out the window? What of the parent who takes opioid based pain medication for a painful condition–should their children be removed as well?
Thank you Zenith! I too am an MMT patient and I work full time as a nanny taking care of other peoples children and my own with absolutely NO problem…. I have been on methadone for six years successfully and I only attend clinic once a month. Wake up out there before you start talking about things you know nothing about. We are normal law abiding citizens just like you.
Zenith, I think a disclosure that you are a methadone advocate would have been appropriate. I assume that this is your white collar job.
I don’t think I said all those on a controlled methadone script cannot look after kids. I said that junkies can’t. If you want to conflate the two terms, that’s your call.
Not going into the details of the case, but I sit as a lay member of Scotland’s Children’s Panel (look it up if you need to). I meet plenty of parents and their partners who are on methadone scripts. I rarely meet one who has been on a script, is now clean and has sorted their life out. They dont or cant put their children first, but they have a better chance than they did when using street drugs. My job as a panel member is to make the best decisions on what happens to their kids.
FYI, Kerry moderates several websites and forums for MMT patients wanting to discuss methadone or seeking help regarding treatment.Kerry is also a Certified Methadone Advocate(CMA)through the National Alliance of Methadone Advocates (NAMA)For these things she does not get paid nor was this the “job” she was referring to. However, I do feel that even this amount of work most would not do for money much less volunteer for it. In addition she is the Director for the Texas chapter of Advocates For Recovery Through Medicine Medically Assisted Treatment. This is a paid position. Personally, I resent any implication that she would try to conceal being a Methadone Advocate. I believe the wording you used by calling someone a “notorius junkie” would put anyone who has suffered with addiction problems on the defense. Then, to imply that alcohol and some other drugs are acceptable around children but treatment received via a certified clinic is not further implied that you were spouting a vindictive bias opinion towards those on MMT. Yes, there was a direct implication that you considered those on MMT Junkies. If that was not your implication then you should have clarified. Can You see why one might interpret what you said that way?
How are these 2 things different? “I don’t think I said all those on a controlled methadone script cannot look after kids.” Then you said, “Those who are on methadone scripts dont or cant put their children first.” The cost for those who choose to use the strongest drugs as their way of getting through life may have to be their right to bring up children. Were you not referring to Methadone by the stringest drugs? Face it, you said what you meant and when someone called you on it you realized how prejudiced it was and became defensive and started backpedaling. The fact is there may be a difference in Scotland and the US because we do not receive a script. We receive our methadone at a clinic and take it in front of a nurse and in some states get no more than 5 take home doses per week. Regardless, we are not all the same and most of us are competent, loving, responsible parents and in my case a grandparent. Please consider this individuality when making decisions regarding others children.
For the avoidance of doubt, I consider those on Methadone to be ex-junkies or working towards that if they have chosen that path, sounds like you have and that is the more common path in the States. Good luck to you. But here, those on DTTO’s (Drug Treatment and Testing Orders – compulsary treatment and testing as a court enforced sentence following typical petty crime convictions) have not chosen that path and haven’t changed the rest of their junkie life. They don’t get jobs, white collar or otherwise and still beg and steal to live, claim benefits etc, and more often than not relapse as support is withdrawn. Those are the ones I see, and there is sadly little difference between them and those still on heroin, perhaps because of different prescribing practices here (I’m interested in that and will follow it up).