The Partnership at Drugfree.org is just beginning a new feature. It hasn't been officially introduced on their site yet but I have been ask to make some info available to anyone that needs to speak to someone about their situation.
The service is a confidential Parent Help Line where you can call toll free to ask questions about drugs, alcohol, addiction and any situations you don't know how to handle; or just need to talk with a professional about some situation involving drugs or alcohol.
PARENTS HELPLINE
1-855-DRUGFREE begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-855-DRUGFREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting 855-378-4373 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 855-378-4373 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Will you be one of the people answering the phones? You may not be a professional, but you are an EXPERT and I would want to talk to someone like you at the beginning to save myself a lot of time learning about this stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteRE; Your comment on Annas Blog FRACTALMOM the point is we don't hate junkies or liars some of us have been there,so what Anna has posted in the past is no shock to us ,Stealing your fathers pills to a straight person is OH MY GOD HOW COULD YOU ,us well in a tight spot yeah I'd do that,the point is she lies when there is no reason to ,we except most things thrown at us but not being made a fool of .thats why people are pissed off,You would be surprised that most users have more empathy than you realise.
ReplyDeleteYah anon I get that. But she obviously has MAJOR issues. Just seemed ppl were being a bit harsh. And, lol, I am known as the harshest of the harsh. Just wanted to remind ppl we r all human, and fallible. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi I left a rambling response at mine but here's the answer to your question. I just read this back and it's just as rambling but different. I hope I answer your question. In short yes they do use on top. I can't prove this, but maybe American patients "behave" themselves more in the more restrictive system you have... I don't know and could never prove this, but maybe...
ReplyDeleteOver here methadone is drunk under supervision in a local pharmacy for a few weeks, then it's taken home (so people like me can drink it in bed!) eventually people go into shared care where their GP prescribes it and they might pick it up twice or even once a week. It's not necessary to have a job to get this treatment (or to be drug clean) ~ just relatively "stable".
In my experience people on methadone generally stopped "working" to support their habit but continued to use on top of the methadone, just at a much lower rate.
If crack is being used (we don't really have crystal meth here) that prolem really has to be addressed first, otherwise the person is just going to stay off the rails and methadone will be pretty much a waste of time.
A methadone dose of 80 to 120mg is said to blockade a lot of heroin's effects. This belief seems to be more prevelant in America than here. Everybody is different and 2 people using the exactly the same amount of heroin might need different methadone doses to feel equally OK.
I'm adding all this info because I do get the suspicion things are perhaps slightly different here than in the USA.
Here everything is free, so people don't appreciate it as much. Heroin is very easy to get here. I don't believe the figures (surely they can't be true!) but the official figures say that 20 tonnes of heroin is abused annually in the US. While the British goverment estimate that 30 tonnes is used here! Opiate addiction here pretty much means heroin addiction. Nobody I know ever uses pain pills. Maybe heroin really is a LOT more prevelant here, I don't know. But that might account for a difference. Otherwise I just don't know.
But no. I'm sorry to say that being on methadone does NOT mean their babies are behaving themselves or safe :-(
I would guess there's probably a better chance that somebody new to it all would stick to a script without using on top.
Years ago I used a LOT more heroin, and yet relatively tiny doses of methadone kept me feeling OK. As the years went by my tolerance to opiates seemed to mean methadone was less and less effective, while heroin seemed to feel pretty much the same. I don't know why this is and it happened just as much when I was just on heroin as on heroin+methadone. But I feel this point needs to be researched, as it means people with long habits are being underprescribed.
I'm trying to work out WHY people use on top of methadone. In my case I felt noticably more depressed on methadone than on heroin. Also I was very badly addicted and knocking back a couple of swigs of gloop just didn't compensate for not hitting up. Injectable methadoen is sometimes prescribed in this country and I know I would have done FAR better on that... if only, if only. Knowing other variations of treatment are given to other people makes me feel sad as I feel I wasn't really given a chance when I was i desperate need of help. Nowadays I feel much more resolute. I'm genuinely fed up of drugs of all descriptions. I am sure I would have done well on a programme a LOT earlier on ~ but only if that programme had been tailored to suit me personally. I had a lot of problems that just weren't being addressed. Ho hum!!