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