166 - Is Methadone an Effective Treatment Option?166 - Is Methadone an Effective Treatment Option?
Real Recovery Talk
The conversation questions whether methadone and suboxone bring real recovery or just a different form of dependence, using Ben Bueno’s lived experience and Adam Colling’s clinical perspective. The group contrasts short-term relief with the idea of complete freedom from substances, urging people to weigh the pros and cons for themselves.
21:42•14 Jan 2021
Methadone: Relief, Freedom, or Just ‘Liquid Handcuffs’?
Episode Overview
- Methadone and suboxone may reduce withdrawal and cravings in theory, but Ben reports using heroin throughout his methadone programme and still failing drug tests.
- The team stresses the difference between seeking short-term relief from sickness and aiming for complete freedom from all substances.
- Methadone and suboxone can bring some benefits, such as legal access to opioids and helping break the needle ritual, but can also become ‘liquid handcuffs’ that restrict daily life.
- Withdrawals from methadone and suboxone are described as longer and harsher than heroin, especially when tapering from very small doses to nothing.
- Ben urges anyone considering these medications to research carefully, weigh pros and cons, and make their own informed decision rather than blindly trusting prescriptions.
“"Are you looking for freedom or are you looking for relief? Because there is a difference."”
What drives someone to seek a life without methadone, heroin, or any other opiate? This conversation on Real Recovery Talk tackles that question head-on by asking whether methadone is actually an effective treatment or just, as they jokingly put it, "a drug for a drug." Host Tom Conrad is joined by Paul, a self-described "codependent dad" of children with opiate addiction, addictions counsellor and recovered heroin addict Ben Bueno, and licensed mental health counsellor Adam Colling.
Together they break down methadone and suboxone in everyday language, mixing honesty, dark humour, and hard-earned experience. Ben explains methadone as a synthetic opioid that left him "permanently numb" and still shooting heroin: "I shot heroin the entire time that I was on the methadone program...
I never passed another drug test for a year and a half." He shares how methadone and suboxone reduced withdrawal temporarily but led to what many users call "liquid handcuffs"—stuck to clinics, prescriptions, and long, brutal withdrawals that he says were worse than heroin. The group keeps returning to one key idea: are you looking for relief, or freedom? Relief means not feeling sick. Freedom means not relying on any substance at all.
Adam explains that, as a therapist, he has to meet people where they are, whether they’re on methadone or not, while Ben admits he’ll work 12 steps with people on suboxone because "I figure I'm planting a seed." You’ll hear about the practical pros (fewer legal risks, breaking the needle ritual, a bit of stability) and some heavy cons (long withdrawals, pharmacy and insurance nightmares, and big pharma profit questions).
Ben’s final encouragement is simple: "Do the research and come up with your own decision. Look at the pros, look at the cons." If you or a loved one are weighing methadone or suboxone, could this honest debate help you decide whether you want relief, or real freedom?
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