A new treatment will soon be available for drug abusers, more specifically women. A centre will be officially opened in a few days in Brown Sequard Hospital. The maintenance methadone treatment will be offered to women who are on intravenous heroin drug abuse. The patients must be between 18 and 60 to embark on this treatment.

Methadone treatment for women is a new outlet and a new hope for female drug abusers. With this new treatment, many women will be able to start a new life in society as well as with their families. There are two referral centres throughout the country, which will sent patients to the main treatment centre at Brown Sequard Hospital.

Methadone treatment is a long-acting opioid medication used with counselling and other services to treat heroin drug addicts. Methadone maintenance treatment provides several benefits. It reduces and furthermore eliminates craving for opioid drugs, thus preventing people from using and abusing drugs. It also blocks the effects of other opioids and prevents the onset of withdrawal symptoms for about 24 hours. Methadone treatment also promotes physical and emotional health. It thus enhances the overall quality of life of the patient.

?It reduces and furthermore eliminates craving for opioid drugs, thus preventing people from using and abusing drugs.?

Before embarking on the treatment, those women need a preparation. Both for the patient and for the family. At Help de-Addiction, Cassis, they have already started. 15 ladies have already applied for the methadone treatment at their place. Counselling, group sessions and family counselling are done before embarking the ladies on the treatment. ?When the women come to the centre for a possible treatment; we have to explain to them about all the available treatments because not all patients prefer the methadone maintenance treatment. Once the choice has been made, we ask them about their medical history to know if they are eligible to start this treatment, then we fill in their application forms?, says Mrs Rajkumarsingh, responsible officer, Help de-Addiction Center.

Is methadone going to be beneficial to women? ?Methadone reduces craving for drugs. As the half lifetime for methadone is 24 to 30 hours, the patient remains stable for the whole night and day. She can even work regularly once she has stabilized. The patient can enter into a normal income raising activity. Once the patient is on a methadone treatment, this also ensures regular HIV treatment if she is positive. It will also help the patient benefit from other support services. The methadone treatment is definitely an advantage to women?, says Dr. Sulleiman, responsible officer at the National Detoxification Centre.

Methadone is indeed going to help women. Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) will help prevent needle use. Injecting is the primary route of infection for drug users. By preventing intravenous drug use, this will improve the quality of life.

Good news for women with a drug problem and who want to put a full stop to drug abuse to start a family. If women have been on opiates such as heroin, they may have stopped getting their periods. This may even have lead them to think that you are pregnant. Methadone really helps them to get back their periods as they stop using opiates. This increases their chances of getting pregnant! But it is important to stay drug-free before they get pregnant!

MMT can also prevent the withdrawal symptoms that many drug users experience. Withdrawal for pregnant women is dangerous because it causes the uterus to contract and may bring miscarriages or premature births. By blocking withdrawal symptoms, MMT can save the baby?s life.

Undergoing a methadone treatment during pregnancy will not any cause birth defects in the child. Indeed, studies have shown that babies born to mothers on methadone do as well as other babies. Even much better than those mothers who have been on heroin! It is re-assuring to know that thousands of healthy babies born to methadone-maintained mothers develop into normal children! Women who are on methadone and are not HIV positive can even breastfeed their children.

Methadone can also help women become better mothers. Being a drug addict does not necessarily make a bad mother but it makes it harder be a good mother and they even run the risk of losing custody of their child. Taking good care of her child demands alertness, attention, patience and good judgment. Taking drugs improperly can affect all of these qualities. Parenting can be hard and sometimes overwhelming and every mother, especially a drug-addict mother, needs a lot of support and methadone maintenance can be an outlet for that support!

Embarking on a methadone treatment and especially if a woman is pregnant can reflect her commitment to living a sober and responsible life. It also means re-integrating the society, becoming self-dependent and earning a living in a more decent way.

Bilkiss JAFFARALLI