Methadone is a prescription drug that rehab facilities and methadone clinics use to treat opiate and heroin addiction and to reduce the symptoms of detox. The detox period can be very painful and make an addict seriously ill. By using methadone, people can detox from other more dangerous drugs, like heroin, and not feel the withdrawal symptoms. However, the problem with this treatment is that the individual can then become very addicted to methadone.

Methadone is a treatment option for people who are addicted to heroin, morphine, or opiates. It is effective only for these drugs. By replacing heroin with methadone, the craving for the original drug goes away. The person no longer feels a heroin high, but instead gets the effects of the methadone. After the heroin addiction is gone, the individual still has an addiction—just to a different drug.

The reason why this is done is because methadone is safer than the original drugs that were being abused. Heroin detox is also an extremely dangerous process due the low number of endorphins that are left in the addict’s brain. Withdrawing from heroin can cause permanent brain changes which keep a person from feeling pleasure if another substance such as methadone is not used.

At some point, the individual will need to detox from methadone. While this isn’t fun, it’s not as difficult as a heroin detox. Some experts say that there should be no complications in this process if it is done under medical supervision. However, others claim that it is much too easy to develop a strong methadone addiction in a short period of time.

Methadone should only be used as part of an addiction treatment program under medical supervision. Likewise, the methadone detox process can be very dangerous and should not be attempted outside of a rehab facility.