Methadone Proven To Be The Best In Curing Drug Addiction, Says Expert

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 (Bernama) -- An addiction specialist Tuesday suggested that hardcore drug addicts be given a prescription of Methadone or Subutex.

Prof Hussain Habil, of Universiti Malaya's Medical Faculty, said the two drugs were introduced in the country in 1975 but efforts to reduce the number of drug dependants with the use of these drugs had not been successful owing to a lack of drug therapists.

However, since 2000, with the increasing number of drug therapists with the skills of administering Methadone or Subutex, the Alternative-Drug Therapy Programme has shown good results, he told Bernama here.

Hussain said more than 30,000 heroin addicts seeking treatment through Methadone and Subutex at the Substance Abuse Ward of the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre had shown more than 70 per cent improvement.

He said that of late Methadone had been given in the form of syrup, and that under the careful supervision of a skilled drug therapist it had been proven to have symptoms of harm-reduction during withdrawals.

"After three to four weeks of using Methadone, 80 per cent of addicts are stabilised with harm-reduction symptoms. They do not go through the painful withdrawal symptoms of body aches, diarrhoea or hallucinations. In fact, they could function normally and perform menial duties," he said.

He said the orally administered drug was closely monitored by trained therapists in the field, and it also averted the use of shared needles and subsequently prevented Aids.

However, the harm-reduction drugs were not cheap, he said, adding that at RM20 per dosage a day, most drug addicts could not afford the medication.

Meanwhile, a volunteer drug therapist at Prokim, a non-governmental organisation rehabilitation centre in Sg Besi, Dr Mohd Khafidz Mohd Ishak, said the inmates were given an initial subsidy of a few dosages until they stabilised.

He said studies conducted on some 200 hardcore addict inmates at Prokim showed that there was an improvement after three months of careful medical supervision.

"By giving them (the drug) in the form of an oral syrup, and under supervision, there is no chance for the addicts to abuse the drug," he said. Prokim houses some 200 hard-core addicts, with addiction of more than 15 to 30 years.

Meanwhile, Faizul Jaafar, 29, a security guard who was a drug addict for 17 years managed to cure his addiction after undergoing a three-month treatment with Methadone at Prokim two years ago.

"With Methadone, we do not think about drugs and can keep ourselves busy with work. There are no physical problems and body aches. And, it can treat addiction," he said.

Former addict Jayabalan Suppramaniam, 36, who had tried all kinds of treatment methods in his 16 years of addiction and has been in and out of drug rehabilitation centres, said that after treatment with Methadone his desire for drugs had been tremendously suppressed.

"Previously, whenever I went to Jalan Chow Kit and Jalan Petaling my thoughts went automatically to drugs. But with Methadone, drugs do not come to my mind at all even when I pass by those streets," he said.

Construction worker Low Kuan Hee, 41, who has been on drugs for 20 years, said: "This (drug) make us eat, we feel we can work, we are steady. We can work, we no longer think about drugs."

-- BERNAMA