- Signatures: 3,062
- Goal: 10,000
- Deadline: Ongoing...
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Methadone Patients receiving it for addiction treatment, Patients receiving Methadone for acute pain, Providers, Families & Friends Against Hysteria and Further Restrictions
| Number | Date | Prefix | Name | City | State | Tell us of Your Experience with Methadone for Opiate Addiction Treatment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3,087 | 12:55 pm PST, Feb 9 | Mr. | dave dobrosky | avonmore | Pennsylvania | i have been on methadone for drug addiction for two years come this april and i have been clean of all drugs since the day i started. methadone does work..when used properly. one thing that does bother me though is i know people go to the methadone clinic simply to get high and use it towards getting high with other drugs...to me they are using the system. but that is their choice, but a bad one. I believe in methadone. I am currently coming down 5 miligrams a month. i'm at 80 and next week i'll be down to 75. its a slow process but one i can't feel at the moment. i'm hoping for a solid recovery and excited to get my life back in order. |
| 3,086 | 8:26 am PST, Feb 7 | Ms. | Recie Jones | Ashland | Kentucky | I was abusing opiates for the past8 years, off and on. I am 20 years old, dropped out of high school when I was 16 at the beginning of my senior year, I've been in & out of short-term relationships. I've broken hearts of family members, the only ones that truly love me. I started college in August of last year to please my grandmother. Once I realized I got money and could take out loans and receive grants, I was ready for it. I completely bombed that sememster. I've done things I'm not proud of whether it was steal, use various drugs in various ways, or allow myself to used. I am now proud to say that I'm a methadone patient. I've been clean, taking methadone for 24 days now. It's not as long as alot of these people, but it's a start. I refuse to use again. I'm now re-enrolled in college, paid my debts, and am busting my butt to obtain good grades. I'd like to make the deans list for the remainder of my college career. I love school and am looking for a job as well. My family and myself are rebuilding our relationships and they're forgiving me and helping me stay clean. I am fortunate enough to have a very strong support group. I attend group counseling every week, with my personal counselor at my fingertips if I should ever need her. If it wasn't for methadone, I'm almost positive I wouldn't live to see 2011. My nephew, my sister, my mother, grandmother, and uncle are the wind beneath my wings. I got to see my nephew's 1st bday and plan to see his 80th, all thanks to Methadone. Everyone judges the medication and the people that take it because they are misinformed and very much so, uneducated. Why can't they read our success stories or even google methadone and see what it actually does for addicts, like us.. |
| 3,085 | 8:55 pm PST, Feb 6 | Robby A. | hickory | Mississippi | For roughly 10 years I lived with NO self respect, self worth, motivation for anything posative. I was just NUMB. Then almost 3 years ago became a father, Now I had purpose, but still used and with a straight face called myself a good father.(ws I wrong) a good father wouldnt dare make the wreckless and selfish decisions I made... Then I went inti MMT. AND MY WHOLE LIFE AS I KNEW IT changed into the life that I always wanted. A life that I thought would NEVER be possable. Now my wife and I brought another beautiful life into this beautiful world. (She also was on MMT during this last pregnacy and baby had no problems what so ever her dr. told her that being on a steady dose had alot to do with it. ) Life on lifes terms is still hard but I know 1st hand it will be alot worse if I dont keep my self in check. Taking this medication properly will save an addicts life. | |
| 3,084 | 8:44 am PST, Feb 6 | Anonymous | clearwater | Florida | Methadone truly has been life saving for me. After months of living in hell and literally wanting to die, it's changed my life completely. Now I feel like I'm a actually a good person, living a good life. I didn't think I could ever feel like that again. All because of methadone and my will to change. | |
| 3,083 | 2:17 am PST, Feb 6 | jim lewis | rome | Georgia | methadone saved my life! a comprehensive treatment program plus a determined commitment to break the cycle of addiction has no negative points to restrict. Bakers Bake, Teachers Teach, and unfortunately Law makers feel the need to law us to death. Society needs MORE methadone, and MORE clinics. serving MORE addicts! | |
| 3,082 | 12:50 am PST, Feb 6 | Mr. | Joey Grundell | chesterton | Indiana | It has saved/is saving my life!!! |
| 3,081 | 10:57 pm PST, Feb 5 | Ms. | Anonymous | Colorado Springs | Colorado | I have been on methadone for over 6 years now and I honestly don't know where i'd be if it weren't for MMT. It has helped myself along with many other people that I know stay clean from illegal drugs. Before I was on MMT I smoked pot several times a day...drank regularly and did just about any drug that I could get my hands on, but I haven't touched any drugs in about 5.5 years because of methadone. I am in the process of detoxing off of it and I've went from 100mg and now i'm at 42mg and still going! Getting off of methadone is the hardest thing that I've ever done in my life, but getting on it was the easiest decision I've ever made. Please protect the millions of people that MMT helps!!! Don't let people's ignorance destroy what helps so many other responsible people live a "normal" life. |
| 3,080 | 10:46 am PST, Feb 5 | Mr. | Anonymous | beaumont | Texas | It has saved my life . It truely is the nector of the Gods... |
| 3,079 | 7:38 am PST, Feb 5 | Mr. | Anonymous | airmont | New York | For the treatment of opiate addiction, Methadone does the job very well. |
| 3,078 | 1:48 pm PST, Feb 3 | Ms. | Leslie Christie | Slippery rock | Pennsylvania | I used a methadone maintainance clinic to beat a terrible herion addiction. Methadone gave me the abiity to rebuild my life for myself and young son. I had no other support so rehab wasn't in my cards. On methadone I got myself and mt son out of the drug culture that is so dangerous. I was able to use my predrug work experience ans BS in computer science to get a great job and be a very productive member of society and a great single mother. I'm down to 45 mgs, from 135 in two years. I will be done by June 2010 and feel I owe my life to mmt. |
| 3,077 | 11:40 am PST, Feb 3 | Anonymous | Freiburg | Methadone saved my life. Its hard to live with methadone, because of the daily visit of my doctor. But I can work, can bring up my son. I'm in MMT since 14 years and want to stop taking methadone, I reduce my dose every week, but its so hard!!! Sometimes I think, its impossible to withdraw from this medication.... | ||
| 3,076 | 9:30 am PST, Feb 3 | Anonymous | street | Maryland | methadone works well an helps my pain | |
| 3,075 | 6:43 am PST, Feb 2 | Mr. | Anonymous | Escondido | California | I am part of the (a Pill isn't a Drug Generation) and that is so wrong. When I was 15 I was in a car accident in which their was a fatality. I had major back and neck problems, not to mention mental issues because of this and my Doctor had no problem with prescribing me Stronger and Stronger opiates. Soon this stopped and I was quickly on the street. Sadly I knew nothing about methadone, even though it has been round for a long time there is just little information. I was informed by a very nice person who i credit for saving my Life. Well now I am happy to say that I have been on Methadone for the last FOUR years and I have not used nor Felt the "NEED" to use any Drug in that entire time. Methadone is not another drug to get High on it Blocks it so you cant get "HIGH". For me It has been the Greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I am now a Productive citizen. I rent a house I have a Full Time job and my life has never been better. Without methadone I would Either still be on the streets, In Jail, Or DEAD. ANYONE who things this medicine is a Drug or is in anyway Deleterious to someones health is Misinformed. Just like any prescription if it is used as said it will work and is no danger. All the Hype about this is from people not telling the truth. People who say taking methadone with a anti-depressant can cause death is wrong I took Methadone and Lexapro for a year with no problem. Anyone who has died while using methadone I am Sure with a 100% confidence than the methadone as not the problem it was the fact that they used another drug in combination which caused a lethal reaction, or they tried to get "HiGH" and with methadone being an opiate blocker means that you can still overdose but you wont feel "HIGH". I feel bad that people bash this Medicine because it has basically saved my life. People who want to ban the only treatment we have for opiate addiction do not care about others. It is a state and federally monitored drug and is very safe. I just want to let people know that without this medicine I could possibly be dead right now or in prison where tax dollars would have to pay for my food and housing. Although because of methadone I am now a Working Tax Paying Citizen and now I am a productive part of society. In my Opinion Methadone needs to be more accessible than it is and people who want to get rid of it need to become more informed. I am sad to say it but Anti-Methadone organizations and individuals are just ignorant. Please inform yourself about something before you make a judgment! Don't listen to Pundits that have no facts to back up their information and put down methadone it is a life saver and changer. If only there was something like this for all Drugs and I would bet that Drug offenses would drop drastically. Drug Users Need Help and Counseling (which methadone clinics provide) to become better, Locking them up does nothing but cost tax dollars that could be used for something better. !BEFORE YOU MAKE A STANCE ONE SOMETHING BECOME INFORMED FIRST PLEASE! Their are enough ignorant people in this world I know you don't want to be one. Remember Rush who said bad things about opiate users while using himself, if you stand against something and dont know the truth about it than you are just as bad. |
| 3,074 | 4:57 am PST, Feb 2 | Ms. | Jennifer Harmon | Machias | Maine | I have suffered from severe back pain for almost 9 years now. My doctor started perscribing me some very strong pain killers and I became addicted. I would say I have been fully addicted for about 7 years. I wanted more for me and my children than a life of being in a haze. I tried to ween myself off many times under my doctors care and it never worked. The only thing that has helped me is the methadone treatment. It has COMPLETELY changed my life. And all for the better. The program has been a life saver if its regulated anymore it won be feezable for anyone... |
| 3,073 | 6:19 pm PST, Jan 31 | Anonymous | Escondido | California | I am 26 & have been on MMT for 6 years. It saved my life, no question. I have tried everything to stop using heroin, nothing worked. The post-acute withdrawals were always too much. I got an abscess from using back in 2003, and was put on methadone in the hospital. I remember that day like it was yesterday. For the 1st time in years, I was myself again, not the junkie I had been for 5 years. I could think clearly, I didn't want to use anymore. I got on MMT the day I left the hospital & haven't looked back since. This TREATMENT saves lives. DO NOT take it away from us. | |
| 3,072 | 7:02 pm PST, Jan 29 | DR Sosa | Jacksonville | Florida | I have been on methadone maintenance for over 14 years. It has helped me be a productive member of society, a loving mother and wife. | |
| 3,071 | 6:55 am PST, Jan 28 | Ms. | Anonymous | China | Maine | |
| 3,070 | 1:22 pm PST, Jan 27 | Taylor Smith | Duluth | Minnesota | I was addicted to opiates since i was sixteen years old. I just turned eighteen and have got my life back by taking methadone. I probably would not be alive if i were still using opiates. There is no way that everyone that benefits from methadone should have to suffer for what other people are deciding to do to themselves. People can overdose off of tylenol are they going to stop selling that. No i didn't think so...I have my life back and I'm sure many other people have got theirs back also due to methadone maintenance. | |
| 3,069 | 11:01 am PST, Jan 26 | Mrs. | mary lauersdorf | cleveland | Ohio | Methadone is a life changer, without it I would not be the person I am today; believe me you wouldn't like the person I was I didn't like myself but today is a different story. |
| 3,068 | 5:41 am PST, Jan 26 | Mrs. | Regina Davis | Mayfield | Kentucky | Methadone has saved my life. I have been in treatment since september 2009. I have chronic pain from Lupus and got addicted to opiates trying to get pain relief. I finally feel normal again and have decent pain control. I wouldnt be here today and my son wouldnt have a mother! |
| 3,067 | 12:21 am PST, Jan 24 | Mr. | Pasquale Maurelli | Chicago | Illinois | I'd be in a world of trouble if it weren't for Methadone. I couldn't imagine where my desperation would lead me had it not been for this life-saving medication. |
| 3,066 | 9:47 am PST, Jan 23 | Mr. | Anonymous | Reno | Nevada | Methadone gave my daughter a new chance at life. She is now 8 months pregnant, married and has ever thing in life to look forward to.And it is all because methadone treatmant allowed her to start a new life. |
| 3,065 | 6:42 am PST, Jan 23 | Mr. | Brent P | Martins Ferry | Ohio | Methadone has saved my life. I was very addicted to OxyContin for 2 years. I was in and out of rehab and tried atleast 6 different forms of abstinence treatment that didn't work for me. I wasn't in school or working I was just doing nothing in life. Methadone treatment allowed me to get back my life, friends, and stability. It allowed me to go to college and I have since made the Dean's List. Methadone is very dangerous but only when in the wrong hands or when taken by someone who is irresponsible or not prescribed to it. People can't blame doctors either. when you're prescribed a potent painkiller for any reason common sense should tell you to do research as to what exactly you're putting in your body and how to use it safely. I think methadone is an excellent treatment for those who meet the criteria to qualify for it. |
| 3,064 | 4:58 am PST, Jan 23 | Chris B | Louisville | Kentucky | ||
| 3,063 | 6:33 pm PST, Jan 22 | Tina Woods | Tulsa | Oklahoma | I am a nurse, and have been working in Opiate Treatment Programs / Medicated Assisted Treatment Programs for going on 22 years. Prior to that I worked in Mental Health and detoxification units. I have been doing Substance abuse Treatment for approx. 28 years. I know Methadone done correctly and with desire from the person can work. I know some people can get off Methadone and I know some will be on it forever. Why do I believe it can work? Because in treatment use whatever it takes to maintain sobriety for however long it takes. Does it work for everyone. NO. The patient has to want it and recovery. I have seen women become mom's on Methadone. I have seen families be reunited. I have seen those that would use it as a way to be not sick and use effectively. All I can do after 28 years is say.. I can work, and if it helps one person, one baby, one family, one community, it needs to be utilized. | |
| 3,062 | 5:26 pm PST, Jan 21 | Mrs. | Erica Myers | Gerrardstown | West Virginia | been in treatment for the past 7-years. and have done great it has given me the ability to live a normal life. I work full-time & are currently in college. so thank you. |
| 3,061 | 1:48 pm PST, Jan 19 | Ms. | Alisa M | Jackson | Tennessee | I have currently been on the methadone matenance program for a year and half and have become stable and able to maintain a job, i only worry about not being able to pay for my treatment, if there was only programs in place to help methadone patients and those wanting to get on methadone, it is certainly better than the alternative. |
| 3,060 | 11:31 pm PST, Jan 18 | Anonymous | Melbourne | Since starting Methadone I shocked even myself with the changes I was able to make, I've done really well with my opiate use and made so many changes for the better. Methadone has changed my life and given me a second chance at it. | ||
| 3,059 | 12:57 am PST, Jan 17 | Mr. | Anonymous | Long Beach | California | If I didn't have methadone to make me feel normal, I would be committing crimes like Doctor Shopping which is not difficult, paying doctors to write prescripts for me (which is not difficult to do), having Pharmacy Technicians steal pills for me who supplement their incomes with the extra money I had paid them, stealing prescriptions from family members and friends to support my former habit of 30 Vicodins, or Perocets, or the 60 mg of Morphine pills, or Darvocets or Codiene pills a day, or finally ordering it from the internet to support my drug habit. Methadone removes all of the anxiety associated with withdrawls and the fear of withdrawl symptoms. Methadone has given me for the most part my life back. In essence so I can function in society (i.e., working, going back to school for a Ph.D so I can function without horrible drug addiction habits and afflictions. Making it more difficult to obtain MMT is idiotic sounds and sounds like the religious reasoning of some Politician (wanting to get famous) who knows nothing about drug/alcohol addiction, especially opiate/opiod addiction. The reason I'm living today is because of Methadone (I prefer it over Suboxone which caused me to become bloated, is much cheaper to be treated with compared to suboxone). Methadone is as deadly as any other drug when used improperly. I've done more harm physically by the years of consuming 30+ Vicodin tablets per day (because of all of the Tylenol I consumed) because of liver damage associated with Tylenol. Tylenol can cause irrevocable liver damage by mixing it with alcohol just once for a hang-over or by overdosing. Wake up and stop listening to politicians and doctors who has that politician's hand in his/her pants saying Methadone is evil because there have been a few deaths caused by it. Politicians looking to remove you of your rights deserve to be shot. |
| 3,058 | 11:45 am PST, Jan 16 | Ms. | Jean Watkins | Pearl | Mississippi | Methadone saved e. I was paralized and in so much pain I'd never walk again. I started taking methadone and in a year and a half I was walking again. It is good for pain and I can live a reasonablly normal life. People who are negative about methadone do not know what they are talking about. The speak from ignorance |
| 3,057 | 2:50 am PST, Jan 16 | Anonymous | brockton | Massachusetts | I am a mother to be and this dream of having a little one never would have been possible without the treatment of methadone. I have been a struggling addict for ten years and I finally tried the methadone treatment and it has not only saved my life but it has transformed it dramatically. I am finally a functioning member of society and I owe it all to not only my own dedication but also to the treatment of methadone. Basically if it weren't for the medication I probably wouldn't be here to tell you this today. | |
| 3,056 | 5:58 pm PST, Jan 15 | Anonymous | wichita | Kansas | it works great if u tack as u need it not over limet it and come off the rite way is great. i didt have the money to stay on the program i hade 2 quit at 120mg i got on it 2 quit pills | |
| 3,055 | 4:12 pm PST, Jan 15 | Sharon Ivie | Richland | Washington | After several years of watching my friend deal with opiate addiction, I've discovered the face of addicion to be not what I thought it was. I now beleive that their would be a much larger success rate with more services available to these people like methadone clinics and other services for opiate addiction like Suboxone. Their's just too much misunderstanding about methadone clinics and if really frustrates me and my friend. | |
| 3,053 | 6:23 am PST, Jan 15 | Mrs. | Anonymous | darien | Illinois | Ive been wearing the Duragesic Patches 150mg. for 5 years to control pain due to Severe degenerative Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus Pain, fibromyalgia,stenosis,M.S.Pain,and Scolisis, previously on Methadone, which helped a lot more.Looking for doctor not afraid to perscribe mwthadone for chronic pain near Darien,ILL can u help me? |
| 3,052 | 7:19 pm PST, Jan 14 | Ms. | Anonymous | nAPLES | Florida | i HAVE IT PRESCRIBED FOR MY BACK PAIN BUT i WILL ADMIT THAT IT HAS EFFECTIVELY CURED OR RATHER CURES MY INCURABLE rESTLESS LEG SYNDROME THAT i'VE SUFFERED FROM FOR ALMOST ALL OF MY LIFE. |
| 3,051 | 3:38 pm PST, Jan 14 | cindy maclennan | demopolis | Alabama | I am a program director, counselor and nurse for a small rural MMC in Alabama. I have also been in recovery for 10 years. I have met the most talented, loving, grateful and creative group of individuals which have walked into my presence and they just happen to use Methadone daily. I experience first hand the lives in which methadone has given a second, third or many chances. I see families. homes. jobs, lives restored and precious children returned back to loving functional homes. Each day I thank God for allowing me and entrusting me with these precious lives. Methadone can be used as a tool and for those in society who haven't a clue we can only pray. We were promised that we are never to regret the past nor wish to shut the door upon it because our experience bring peace and hope to others. |
Methadone Patients Against Hysteria and Further Restrictions
We are Methadone Patients, Providers, Families and Friends AGAINST the Hysteria which is calling for Further Restrictions on the Prescribing of Methadone.
There has been much written of late about the rise in deaths due to the abuse of Methadone. We lament these deaths, but feel that there has arisen an hysteria that proposes to restrict futher the prescription of this life-saving medication to the detriment of the 250,000 patients who receive this drug daily in addiction treatment programs across the United States. An overdose due to a person's recreational use of illicitly obtained methadone is NOT the fault of the drug, but of the person abusing the drug. Accidental overdoses by persons legitimately prescribed the drug for pain management purposes is again, not the fault of the drug, but of medical personnel who may not be educating patients enough to the dangers of such a long-acting analgesic. Deaths due to the recreational abuse of the drug lies with the abuser, not the substance.
Methadone when used correctly is an effective and inexpensive pain medication. In addiction treatment programs, methadone acts as endorphin replacement for the damaged brain chemistries brought about by long term exposure to opiates. It has been utilized safely and scrutinized closely for five decades, and has been declared the "gold standard" for opiate addiction treatment by our government's National Institutes of Health. It is also the most closely regulated drug in existance when used for this purpose. Investigations over the last three years by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration has shown that illicit methadone on the streets of America originates in pain management programs and NOT addiction treatment facilities.
Methadone SAVES lives! There are a quarter of a million patients receiving it daily in addiction treatment facilities across America who will attest to that fact. It is safe when used properly, and effective in the endorphin replacement therapy needed by these patients. We the undersigned wish to implore the Federal Centers for Substance Abuse Treatment(CSAT) to not fall victim to the hysteria presently surrounding this drug, and to make any changes where they belong -- in the pain management centers of America and NOT its addiction treatment programs.
An overdose death is always lamentable, but let's not "throw the baby out with the bathwater" and keep any changes to the offending areas of distribution. That is NOT the opiate addiction treatment programs of America.
There has been much written of late about the rise in deaths due to the abuse of Methadone. We lament these deaths, but feel that there has arisen an hysteria that proposes to restrict futher the prescription of this life-saving medication to the detriment of the 250,000 patients who receive this drug daily in addiction treatment programs across the United States. An overdose due to a person's recreational use of illicitly obtained methadone is NOT the fault of the drug, but of the person abusing the drug. Accidental overdoses by persons legitimately prescribed the drug for pain management purposes is again, not the fault of the drug, but of medical personnel who may not be educating patients enough to the dangers of such a long-acting analgesic. Deaths due to the recreational abuse of the drug lies with the abuser, not the substance.
Methadone when used correctly is an effective and inexpensive pain medication. In addiction treatment programs, methadone acts as endorphin replacement for the damaged brain chemistries brought about by long term exposure to opiates. It has been utilized safely and scrutinized closely for five decades, and has been declared the "gold standard" for opiate addiction treatment by our government's National Institutes of Health. It is also the most closely regulated drug in existance when used for this purpose. Investigations over the last three years by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration has shown that illicit methadone on the streets of America originates in pain management programs and NOT addiction treatment facilities.
Methadone SAVES lives! There are a quarter of a million patients receiving it daily in addiction treatment facilities across America who will attest to that fact. It is safe when used properly, and effective in the endorphin replacement therapy needed by these patients. We the undersigned wish to implore the Federal Centers for Substance Abuse Treatment(CSAT) to not fall victim to the hysteria presently surrounding this drug, and to make any changes where they belong -- in the pain management centers of America and NOT its addiction treatment programs.
An overdose death is always lamentable, but let's not "throw the baby out with the bathwater" and keep any changes to the offending areas of distribution. That is NOT the opiate addiction treatment programs of America.
Note: This Methadone Patients Against Hysteria and Further Restrictions petition was submitted by J.R. Neuberger. ThePetitionSite.com is a free service provided to help concerned citizens rally support for issues they believe in. The opinions expressed by this petition do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of ThePetitionSite.com or Care2.com. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition nor any newsletter offers (except those from Care2.com) by Care2.com, Inc, ThePetitionSite.com, or our sponsors. If you believe this system is being abused, please contact customer support.
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