As the “gold standard” therapy for opioid addiction, MMT has provided strong benefits
in reducing addiction-related physical illnesses, communicable diseases, and deaths.
Typically, deaths due to any causes in methadone-treated patients are 3 to 4 times
less than in untreated opioid addicts. Also, severe adverse reactions have
been relatively rare in the millions of patients treated with methadone in MMT since
1964 worldwide, with many patients remaining on methadone more than 20 years.
The effects of methadone on the health of patients in MMT has probably been studied
more thoroughly than for any other medication in all of medicine. Mary Jeanne Kreek,
MD, one of the best known and leading researchers in the field of methadone maintenance
treatment has summed-up the findings:
“The most important medical consequence of [ongoing] methadone treatment,
in fact, is the marked improvement in general health and nutritional status observed
in patients as compared with their status at time of admission to treatment. Most
medical complications observed in methadone maintenance patients are either related
to ongoing preexisting chronic disease, especially chronic liver disease, the onset
of which occurred prior to entry into methadone treatment, or to coexisting new
diseases or illnesses or to ongoing polydrug or alcohol use.”
In short, patients grow healthier during methadone maintenance treatment. Just how
healthy depends on their condition before treatment and how they take care of themselves
during treatment.
Long-term, prospective studies have demonstrated that MMT is medically safe and
generally without toxic reactions requiring hospitalization. Methadone side effects
are generally mild, most common during early days of therapy, and can be minimized.
Maintenance on adequate methadone does not affect a person’s mental abilities to
function normally during intellectual activities, driving motor vehicles, or performing
work tasks. Clinical evidence suggests that most physical complaints associated
with methadone therapy can be attributed to: 1) patients’ abuse of other substances
while in treatment; 2) normal opioid withdrawal symptoms, possibly associated with
inadequate methadone dose; 3) acclimation to methadone dose changes; and/or 4) the
influence of pre-existing or new medical problems.
Sources :
Bell J, Zador D. A risk-benefit analysis of methadone maintenance treatment. Drug
Saf. 2000;22(3)179-190.
COMPA (New York State Committee of Methadone Program Administrators). Regarding
Methadone Treatment and Other Pharmacotherapies: A Review. New York, NY: COMPA;
revised 1999. See also:
http:www.compa-ny.org