Methadone Drug Addiction .com

I have insurance through Kaiser Permanente and would like to obtain methadone for opiate dependence through a regular pharmacy.

Your doctor will not write you a prescription for methadone that you can take to a regular pharmacy. You will need to go through a methadone clinic for some time before you will be considered for a 'medical maintainance plan' which will allow you to obtain a month's worth of methadone to self administer.

2007-04-30 20:02:18 by Fred F

This story originally aired in February 2007. In this special edition of FDA PSN, we are repeating some of the most important safety issues that ...

I have back problems, and my Dr. prescribed me liquid methadone for the pain. Im going on vacation to Jamaica in two days, and I was wondering how I can travel with my medication? I know I will need a lock box, but can I carry it on the plane with me, or do I have to keep it in my luggage. Is there going to be any problems with this? Any information would be much appreciated! Thanks!

As far as traveling with medicine the TSA states that it must be in the original packaging with the prescription matching your name on your ID/Passport. I would suggest that maybe you get an additional note from the doctor with your information on it, ie. patient name, reason for prescription, and type of medication provided.

You can also visit the TSA website http://www.tsa.gov/ they have the complete list of what you can and can not bring on the aircraft with you in both your checked and carry on luggage and I know they have a section explaining traveling with medication.

Hope this helps and have a great trip!

2007-02-06 06:16:25 by Eric R

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I am planning on getting my class A license and a long haul truck driving job. I have had to take pain meds in the past for back pain. Is it legal to take prescription pain meds while driving the big rigs. The pain meds that work for me are oxycodone(percacet) or methadone.

I know that it is against the law to use methadone and drive a truck but I am not sure about the other meds. I would call Human Resources and ask what the policy is regarding prescription medications and driving.

2008-11-12 19:19:30 by treeman

i took methadone about a week ago and it came up in the drug screen for a job. i only took it twice because i was withdrawing from xanax. im clean and not taking anything but the lab. ask me for a prescription letter and they will clear me for the job. what can i do?
i dont have a prescription for methadone, my friend gave it to me and said it would help with the withdraws. it really did help but i wasn't expecting to be called for a drug screen so fast.

Simply put, you can’t. You have absolutely no comprehension of methadone, what’s it uses are, or the process involved in getting on a MMT program for methadone, and if you did, you’d realize what you’re asking is absurd.
For starters- Methadone has 2 uses: chronic pain management, for patients with severe, chronic pain from terminal, untreatable illness; chemotherapy patients, and those going through surgery. Most physicians are wary to even prescribe it (rightfully so), and even then, most pharmacies don’t carry it.
The second use is for opiate addiction treatment; also known as MMT (Methadone maintenance treatment). The Harrison drug act made it illegal for a general practitioner to prescribe methadone for opiate addiction; only a state certified, addiction specialist can do so, and even then, only in a state run and federally compliant MMT clinic.
A brief deviation, to ensure you understand how this addiction thing works (which you clearly don’t, since Xanax does not cause physical, acute withdrawal symptoms)-
Methadone is an opioid agonist- a synthetic opiate (an opiate being any of the narcotic medications used to treat pain derived from the poppy plant). It was first synthesized when a pharmacologist was trying to find a medication that was less addictive than morphine. Soldiers in the world wars were returning with morphine addictions at alarming rates; primarily because field medicine in the era was limited to pain killers, and many soldiers who became injured also became addicted.
Methadone, as it turns out, is actually just as addictive as morphine- and heroin. In fact, the physical addiction is more severe.
Opiates, unlike other drugs like XANAX, crack, coke, amphetamines, pot, LSD, etc.- have a propensity for PHYSICAL addiction: your body produces natural painkillers, referred to as endorphins , in small amounts to help your body function during pain. They are also released during orgasm, moments of happiness, and exercise (“runners high”) among others.
Opiates- or Opioids- attach themselves to the same receptors in your brain that endorphins do- the caveat being, the levels of them are dramatically increased than what your own body would naturally produce.
The human body, in an attempt to conserve energy, will realize that a person who is using opiates on a regular, daily basis, are providing their body with more than enough synthetic endorphins to run properly, and the body will stop its own production of them. When the user stops using opiates, the body is entirely devoid of these feel good hormones, which are normally released in constant, though slow, fluctuations by the body. This is what’s known as acute, physical withdrawal.
Unlike most opiates, methadone is a time released medication- this makes the acute withdrawal phase much longer, and more severe than that of someone withdrawing from other opiates. Though worse, the symptoms are similar- nausea, vomiting, cramping in the stomach, legs and muscles; respiratory fluctuations, irregular heartbeat, a raise in blood pressure, etc.
The user must go through this period- which last about 7 days with most opiates, but 2-4 weeks for methadone users- before the body is producing its own endorphins again.
So, now that you understand addiction to opiates, let’s clarify how one addicted ot them even gets methadone.
MMT- is a long term, highly successful way to treat opiate addicts. It is one of many methods, but the only one with a success rate for sobriety over the rate of 22%- and also considered the safest. MMT clients are given methadone In a supervised setting- only after years of clean drug tests, total compliance, and perfect attendance can they apply for take home doses- and those are given in very small increments. Take homes must be taken home in a locked box, stored that way, and the client must be willing to bring in any unused doses within 24 hours if called, to show they’re using them properly and not selling them. If a client skips their dose, or sells it, they will become extremely ill- and once taking methadone, heroin and other opiates rarely are strong enough to stop withdrawal, or even produce a high- so MMT patients are generally not the culprits of street bought methadone.

To even get on a methadone program in the first place, you would have to have an assessment, a tox scree verifying you used opiates; and then you get on a waiting list. And wait. Clinics often have waiting lists ranging 6 mos.- 1year; in my region, our clinics are so over capacity, they aren’t even taking names for the waiting lists.
Had you been accepted, you would not get a methadone “letter” for potential employers. Methadone prescriptions would be, on methadone prescriptions.
As a MMT client, you would be protected in two ways:
1)Your medical history is private, and if you were prescribed methadone, legally, you would have a prescription- or a clinic physician’s phone number- that the drug testing facility contracted by your potential employer would then verify. They would not tell your potential employer you had a legal prescription, b/c it’s a private, medical history. The only way they can divulge that information is if you were not prescribed it, in which case, you would be illegally using drugs, and therefore, not protected.
2)The second way you are protected (if you were legally prescribed it) is as a recovering addict- your employer cannot refuse to hire you for being a drug treatment program, or fire you if they find out (which is unlikely to happen, since legally the drug screen lab cannot pass that info on). It’s covered under the Americans with disabilities act, a monumental win for recovering addicts, as it was only recently that the medical community realized & accepted addiction within the disease concept.
This, again, is only the case if you are actively sober- you cannot claim to a potential employer you are an addict and that’s why you can’t pass the pre-employment drug test, and get hired- this only applies to LEGITAMITE addicts, in recovery.

As of late, methadone has come under a lot of fire. Most of it is the result of stigma, ignorance, and misuse by people who don’t really need it.
Methadone is a time released medication, which is why it works so well for chronic pain management and addiction treatment. Unfortunately, what those abusing it illegally don’t know, is that methadone doesn’t give you a buzz. Taken properly, at a therapeutic dose, it does not impair motor skills or cognitive function; it simply makes the user feel normal. OD by methadone is extremely rare- the stories you’ve heard in the news are a result of people NOT prescribed methadone, who take it, don’t feel buzzed, and then take more, or mix it with other meds. That causes overdose- ANY medication, including over the counter ones- is dangerous in un-prescribed quantities.
Unfortunately, when the fundamental right wind and anti-methadone propagandists need a scapegoat, former heroin addicts make a good target- so guess what happens when someone like you tries to cover their traks? You hurt people like us, who take it properly, and are fighting for our rights to sobriety. You end up giving these people more fodder, more fuel for the proverbial fire, and the run MMT clinics out of town and leave thousands of addicts who were finally getting their lives together back at square one.
If I seem harsh, I apologize- but I take it very personally when someone threatens my sobriety.
Take a look around yahoo; or Facebook, or Google search terms. You’ll find there is plenty of people who don’t have even a modicum of pharmacological comprehension, or addiction experience who are spreading vitriol and misinformation about MMT, and then perhaps you’ll understand where I’m coming from.
The bottom line is, you messed up. There’s no way to cover up what you did. You lost the job. Consider it a life lesson. And if you find yourself abusing other prescription meds, which I find highly probable, since you said you were taking Xanax, yet had no understanding how it worked either- (Xanax doesn’t cause acute physical withdrawal)- perhaps you shouldn’t be looking for a job so much as you should treatment. If you need help with that, feel free to email me, and i will try to help you get in touch with someplace in your region.
Best of luck.

2010-09-30 22:06:34 by Crystal

I got searched and they found needle in my car and are charging me 5th degree felony. Will they win case even though I am prescribed methadone But supposed to take it orally and i told cop i used it to measure out an extra 5mg of my liquid methadone and squirted into my mouth?

You have already been charged. Use your excuse.
At this point what do you have to lose?

2010-10-05 05:50:43 by Airhead