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To the Editor: In the study by Dr Sees and colleagues¹ on methadone "treatment" for opioid dependence it is inappropriate to compare patients receiving a stable dose of methadone to those either undergoing detoxification or recently detoxified. The authors point out that 50% of the participants used illicit opioids and that there was no difference in cocaine use between the groups. They reported that neither group showed changes in 5 problem areas: employment, family, psychiatric, legal, and alcohol use. On the other hand, the 12-step recovery mode has been proven for 65 years. Once sober and totally drug free, the life of the recovering addict changes dramatically in all areas.

The tragedy of addiction has been overlooked time and again by well-meaning medical researchers who fail to grasp the underlying disease process and treatment of addiction. Sobriety or recovery is not a matter of switching to the correct pharmacological agent. . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Methadone Maintenance vs 180-Day Psychosocially Enriched Detoxification for Treatment of Opioid Dependence: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Karen L. Sees, Kevin L. Delucchi, Carmen Masson, Amy Rosen, H. Westley Clark, Helen Robillard, Peter Banys, and Sharon M. Hall
JAMA. 2000;283(10):1303-1310.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT