What Is the Role of Drugs in Addiction Treatment?

Published February 19, 2014

Question by daphne p: What is the role of drugs in addiction treatment?
I’m just wondering what methadone is for, why it is needed for recovery.

Best answer:

Answer by aya e
The drugs are able to help restore the brain functioning back to normal. They also relieve the patient of craving for heroin, and they suppress withdrawal symptoms. It also blocks the effects of heroin. The drugs make it easier for the patient to recover in a shorter amount of time, and prevents relapse as well.

Answer by sunshinebuglover
Methadone is not “needed” for recovery but has been found in clinical trials to be effective in substance use recovery. What it does is create a sort of “allergy” to the drug so that the user pairs violent illness with drug use and through association learns to loathe both.