Methadone Patients Against Hysteria and Further Restrictions

We are Methadone Patients, Providers, Families and Friends AGAINST the Hysteria which is calling for Further Restrictions on the Prescribing of Methadone.

There has been much written of late about the rise in deaths due to the abuse of Methadone.  We lament these deaths, but feel that there has arisen an hysteria that proposes to restrict futher the prescription of this life-saving medication to the detriment of the 250,000 patients who receive this drug daily in addiction treatment programs across the United States.  An overdose due to a person's recreational use of illicitly obtained methadone is NOT the fault of the drug, but of the person abusing the drug.  Accidental overdoses by persons legitimately prescribed the drug for pain management purposes is again, not the fault of the drug, but of medical personnel who may not  be educating patients enough to the dangers of such a long-acting analgesic.  Deaths due to the recreational abuse of the drug lies with the abuser, not the substance.

Methadone when used correctly is an effective and inexpensive pain medication.  In addiction treatment programs, methadone acts as endorphin replacement for the damaged brain chemistries brought about by long term exposure to opiates.  It has been utilized safely and scrutinized closely for five decades, and has been declared the "gold standard" for opiate addiction treatment by our government's National Institutes of Health.  It is also the most closely regulated drug in existance when used for this purpose.  Investigations over the last three years by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration has shown that illicit methadone on the streets of America originates in pain management programs and NOT addiction treatment facilities. 

Methadone SAVES lives!  There are a quarter of a million patients receiving it daily in addiction treatment facilities across America who will attest to that fact.  It is safe when used properly, and effective in the endorphin replacement therapy needed by these patients.  We the undersigned wish to implore the Federal Centers for Substance Abuse Treatment(CSAT) to not fall victim to the hysteria presently surrounding this drug, and to make any changes where they belong -- in the pain management centers of America and NOT its addiction treatment programs.

An overdose death is always lamentable, but let's not "throw the baby out with the bathwater" and keep any changes to the offending areas of distribution.  That is NOT the opiate addiction treatment programs of America.