Methadone use in opioid substitution therapy for drug dependence

Abstract

‘Anti-methadone hysteria’ has reached colossal proportions. It is raging today on Internet sources specializing in combating drug addiction and popularizing public health. Substitution therapy is a type of drug addiction treatment using opioid substances that act on the human brain like heroin and morphine. The topic of opioid substitution treatment has long gone beyond the level of scientific discussion. It has become a confrontation between two ideologies. On the one hand, this method has received broad support from the World Health Organization, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Substitution therapy using methadone has been successfully used in many countries in America, Western and Eastern Europe, and the CIS. On the other hand, substitution therapy is essentially a replacement for heroin addiction with methadone addiction, which makes it fundamentally impossible to achieve a complete cessation of drug use. No matter how controversial the assertion about OST may seem, it is necessary to get to the heart of the issue. The article describes the scheme for the use of opioid substitution therapy in Kazakhstan and contains criticism of the maintenance therapy opponents, as well as the arguments of its supporters.