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heroin-induced changes in specific neurobiological systems would
persist over long periods and possibly become permanent for some
addicts.

At about the same time, observations about the treatment of opioid
addiction at the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital in Lexington,
Kentucky showed that less than 10% of "hard-core" addicts were able
to remain abstinent after treatment from those programs that only
offered counseling and psychiatric care. It is now recognized that
relapse is one of the hallmarks of addictive disease. Therefore, the
newly developing addiction medicine was targeting in on an optimal
pharmacological treatment that would complement the psychological
and behavioral conditions of opioid addiction.

Since then, some 40 years later, hundreds of research studies from
around the world have all confirmed that methadone is soundly based
in biologic science and its benefits have been proven in more clinical
trials than many drugs used in today’s modern medicine. It has
helped hundreds of thousands of heroin addicts all over the world. It
is both safe and effective for the treatment of opiate addiction.

Even though methadone can be used as an addiction treatment for any
of the opioid drugs, its use was initially developed as a
pharmacotherapy agent targeting heroin addiction. As such, a review
of the basic behavioral pharmacology of heroin will help in the
explanation of why methadone is so effective as an addiction
medicine.

HEROIN

Heroin addiction: It’s like I’ve got a shotgun in my mouth, my finger’s on the
trigger and I like the taste of gun metal.
Robert Downey, Jr., Actor

Opioid addicts say that ingesting opiate drugs like heroin calms their
nerves, satisfies their cravings and helps them relax. Scientists believe
they now know why that might be – ingesting opiate drugs produces
major changes in the flow of "feel good" chemicals in the brain, both