What is the purpose of methadone?
Methadone, formerly known as dolophine, is a psycho-active drug, meaning that it affects the mind or behavior. It belongs to the class of opioids, drugs that share some of the analgesic properties, and mimic the action of some of the body’s naturally occurring chemicals called peptides, such as endorphins and enkephalines. Methadone is used to relieve chronic pain in cancer patients and as a maintenance drug to control withdrawal symptoms in people undergoing treatment for opiate addiction. In opiate addiction treatment, methadone blocks the opioid receptors of the brain that bind opiates such as heroin. The blocking of these receptors leads to two major effects: • because these chemical receptors remain blocked by methadone for up to 24 hours, even if a person addicted to heroin takes heroin after the administration of methadone, this person is not likely to feel the same effects of the heroin as he or she previously felt; • because the action of methadone is associated with slower an
