Methadone

Methadone

Introduction

Methadone is an opioid synthetic developed in Germany in 1937. It is currently marketed worldwide in the form of tablets or liquid form. In short history, the drug has essentially gone undesirable due to government policies and support of clinicians and pharmaceutical companies that produce it. The name "dolophine" was created after the Second World War by the American branch of Eli Lilly, and the slang term "Adolfina" (never was the real name of a drug) appeared in the United States in early the decade of 1970. Coming from the German Dolfina Dolphium, the name derives from the pain-oris (pain in Latin) and finis (end in Latin) to mean "the end of pain"). So insistent, but false, an urban legend states that the term "Adolfina" was coined by its creators as a tribute to Adolf Hitler. It has even been argued that his original name was "Adolfina", "adolofina" or "dolfamina".

Use in Medicine

Methadone is used in several countries in the replacement therapy use "hard" drugs as a substitute of heroin (" methadone program "). In 2005 he was included in the Model List of WHO Essential Medicines - Section 24 "Psychotherapeutic drugs," Paragraph 24.5 "Medicines used in treatment programs based on Psychotropic Substances," with the caveat that it should only be used in the waste support programs. Since its creation in 1898, many people have been addicted to heroin . According to a survey conducted in the early 1990s of drug use among the American population, nearly 3 million people have tried heroin (Hiltunen, 2011). The number of actual addicts is a matter of some debate, but given the highly addictive nature of heroin, it is certainly substantial. The personal and social problems caused by heroin use have motivated a number of strategies to end or at least diminish addiction. One of these entails the use of a methadone as a less-harmful substitute for heroin.

Methadone was synthesized in Germany in 1943 because World War II had disrupted the supply of natural opium from which opiate analgesics were derived. Its time and place of origin are revealed in the original name for the drug, Dolophine, a name bestowed in honor of Adolph Hitler. Oddly, one pharmaceutical company continues to use Dolophine as a trade name, and methadone tablets sometimes carry the street name of "dollies."

Methadone operates on the same neural receptors as heroin, but it does not provide the pleasurable sensations of that drug. It also blocks the feelings of euphoria brought on by the use of heroin (Leary, 2010). However, like heroin, methadone is an addictive drug, especially when injected. For this reason, methadone doses are usually administered orally, and the tablets are combined with insoluble substances so that they cannot be made into an injectable substance. The chief therapeutic benefit of methadone is that it allows an addict to get off heroin without experiencing painful withdrawal symptoms. For this to happen, methadone must be taken orally every day.

The use of methadone for the treatment of heroin addiction was initiated at Rockefeller University in 1964 by Vincent Dole and Marie Nyswander Dole. The success of their program led ...