Question by Dynodikk: Why do some people think it is inappropiate to give advise on medication….?
because they are not doctors. But yet a addict can be advised by a Methadone counselor and even have them dispense their methadone for them and a lot of those counselors never took a drug in their lifes or even read one single book on medicine?
As opposed to some wholesome American guy trying to help people and have used opiates legally and read about them for years.

Best answer:

Answer by AJ
Very true actually. A lot of people put a great deal of faith in their doctors, expecting that the doctor knows everything about drugs/medication, since it takes years and years of hard work to earn that MBBS and then MD. They would feel that only a doctor would have seen and is aware of all the possible adverse reactions to a med and all the adverse drug-drug interactions that can take place with different meds.

In contrast, I never understood how someone who has probably attended a weekend course in drug treatment would be given that level of responsibility in dispensing Methadone, especially given that:
1) Methadone is a very strong opioid. As it is today, a lot of doctors are very wary about prescribing even Vicodin and here we have an opioid that is stronger than Morphine AND possesses NMDA-Antagonist effects.
2) Methadone is an NMDA-Antagonist. Whilst this has significant implications on the level of pain relief, as well as tolerance and addiction, this also means that Methadone would not have a linear dose-response curve. One would have to be extremely careful when prescribing it. So to allow someone who has very little experience in this to attend a short course and then start advising patients on Methadone dosage would be ridiculous and irresponsible in the extreme.

I wouldn’t agree to a “counsellor” dispensing even Suboxone or ANY drug even, let alone Methadone.

An addict or a former addict on the other hand is different. Over here (in Asia), if you talk to people invovled in the De-Addiction field, you will find that most of them treat drug-users and addicts as “cultural experts”. They acknowledge that this group of people have a much greater knowledge of illegal drugs and side-effects and pitfalls (of course this doesn’t apply to every drug-addict and there are still addicts who do insane things like injecting Darvocet but I think you get my point).
A lot needs to change in the way treatment is provided to drug-users and a lot more effort needs to be channel toward Education.

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