Addiction to addictive substances is a serious worldwide problem. One of the treatment options is so-called substitution therapy. This is the administration of a drug that replaces the body with the drug it is used to. In our conditions, these substances are methadone or buprenorphine. Patients take them orally, ie in the form of tablets or syrup.
Substitution helps addicts avoid injecting drug use that is risky for them. However, the benefits of substitution outweigh the benefits of the individual and concern the whole of society. Substitution treatment:
helps to curb the illicit drug market,
removes hazardous intravenous drug use and prevents the transmission of HIV (AIDS) and other serious infections,
prevent death due to overdose,
reduces the criminality of addicts,
improves physical and mental health of addicts,
improves the cooperation of addicts in the treatment of chronic diseases,
it alleviates the social impact of drug addiction not only on the disabled themselves but also on their families and surroundings.
He brings the sick to the doctor
Dependents often have no access to health care. At the center of substitution treatment, they get a contact with a general practitioner and have the opportunity to be examined professionally. They find out if they have an infectious disease, etc. The whole community of addicts has the benefit of substitution. Its members will be given the chance to deal with their situation unless they are fully burdened with the search for illicit drugs.
The benefit of substitution therapy is clear. This is the more striking attitude of some developing countries where absolute abstinence is seen as the only possible way to treat addiction. Unfortunately, human rights are being violated in promoting this attitude.
Dependence is a disease
Lack of understanding about the nature of dependence and the role of substitution therapy sometimes dominates among addicts themselves. Dependence is not a malicious act or a bad habit. It is a disease, no matter how it develops. Similarly substitution is not a drug against addiction, nothing changes it. It only helps people who are chronically ill addictive addicts to handle the situation.
Some patients need substitution for the rest of their lives. But without substitution treatment, their dependence is a severe and ever-returning disease that has devastating consequences for the patient and his immediate surroundings.
Source: Substituční léčba.cz