Methadone Maintenance is a safe and responsible alternative to abstinence for many who suffer from opiate addiction.  Some individuals would like to stop engaging in heroin abuse or prescription drug abuse, but just can’t stay clean long enough to achieve recovery.  So this form of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) often helps them get back to a normal life and even eventual abstinence in many cases.

Harm reduction is a form of treatment for drug addiction that seeks to do what the term suggests.  When individuals cannot or will not cease drug abuse, we can reduce the amount of harm the activity does to them or others.  Granted, this is not the ideal.  But heroin addiction, for example, can place them in such a stranglehold that they become unaware or agnostic about the harm issue.

Opiates such as heroin and pain killers are tough to quit for any addict, mainly due to the associated cravings.  Even with effective treatment, multiple relapses are possible unless motivation for recovery is very high.  It’s not that drug addicts don’t understand that recovery is better than using drugs.  It is that they can’t get past the cravings to reach recovery.

These individuals generally feel a sense of hopelessness and have a “what’s the use” attitude.  Multiple treatment attempts and relapses only fuel these feelings.  So in order to gently lead them to a place where recovery is possible they need to be given a sense of hope.  Methadone Maintenance does this over a long-term or short-term period.

For Narcotic Replacement Therapy, Methadone has been proven safe and effective.  Doses are tracked and clients are constantly tested before receiving them.  It reduces opiate cravings because it is fast-acting and remains in the body for a day or two.  At proper doses, individuals can resume productive lives and work toward a life in recovery.

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles offers Methadone Maintenance in a Narcotic Treatment Program that includes addiction counseling.  It is part of our commitment to integrated behavioral healthcare.  If you or a loved one needs help for opiate addiction, please call us now at 800-996-1051 or contact us here.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.