Methadone Treatment
adapted from
Peaceful Measures
By Bruce Alexander
The
recent history of methadone dispensing in British Columbia provides an
illustration of drug-war treatment for addiction in Canada. Methadone
maintenance was introduced to British Columbia in 1963. It entails providing
chronic heroin addicts with a legal, orally administered heroin-substitute,
methadone, to keep them out of jail, away from needles, and make a normal life
possible in spite of their intractable addictions.
Methadone-dispensing
was regulated by Narcotic Control Regulations from the outset. These regulations
were tightened in 1972, with a corresponding decrease in the number of patients
between 1972 and 1975.
As
the system had evolved by 1985, methadone in British Columbia was provided both
through private doctors (about 500 patients) and through government clinics (about
175 patients). The clinics handled the younger and less stable addicts, whereas
older, more stable addicts received prescriptions through the small number of
doctors licensed by the federal government to prescribe methadone.
Although
the independent physicians were generally more flexible than the government
clinics, both were regulated by the police, the Federal Bureau of Dangerous
Drugs, and the BC Medical Association. Although these controls restricted the
number of addicts who could receive methadone, many addicts used the system to
escape the role of criminals. The most successful addicts eventually came off
methadone treatment and returned to normal life. Others received both methadone
and social assistance for long periods.