Trainspotting drug more popular than flu vaccine
Users talk of ‘hellish’ symptoms as they try to quit methadone. By Rachel Thomas.
THOUSANDS of Kiwis are suffering from Trainspotting- like symptoms as a result of being hooked on the opioid substitute, methadone.
Official figures from Pharmac reveal methadone is the country’s fifth most dispensed drug with 1.85 million doses in 2016.
This means the drug has been dispensed 73,000 more times than Ibuprofen, and at least three times as much as the flu vaccine.
And although methadone dispensing figures from previous years show a slight decline, treatment programmes in the country are filled to capacity.
‘‘To come off methadone is hellish, it’s like Trainspotting. You have aching joints, for weeks,’’ methadone user John* said.
John has been on methadone for 12 years and has cut his doses over the years. But, try as he might, he can’t stop because of the withdrawal symptoms.
‘‘My legs and hands were twitching - it’s agonisingly frustrating. There’s electric shocks going down your nerves, and it drives you nuts. And it will be like that for days and days.’’
New Zealand has about 5500 people on methadone treatment, consultant psychiatrist and addiction specialist Dr Jeremy McMinn said.
‘‘The programmes are full but most people don’t go to the pharmacy every day.’’
It’s dispensed at least several times a week to most patients, in an effort to quash illegal sales of the opioid and deter patients from shooting it up.
South Island DHBs, Southern and Canterbury, have the highest rates of dispensings. Southern DHB services just over 304,000 people, yet the DHB gave out methadone 177,000 times last year.
Most clinics are comfortable with patients being on methadone for at least two years before there’s any talk of weaning them off, McMinn said.
‘‘After that it’s a bit like, how long is a piece of string? It’s a naive approach for people to go ‘give me this and I’ll be right in six weeks’.’’
The barrier to employment is the biggest concern, so health professionals will try and work around that and allow trusted patients ‘takeaway doses’, McMinn said.
‘‘Most clinics would see that any form of rehabilitation, especially employment, is the holy grail of what they’re trying to achieve.’’
John admitted he’s sold his methadone before ‘‘to help pay the bills’’.
A 20mg dose has a street value of about $20, and gets a non-drug user ‘‘very high’’ he said.
But McMinn, says methadone users are an ageing group. ‘‘Maybe methadone will become a thing of the past as this cohort goes off.’’
*names changed to protect identity