How Is She on the Methadone Program While Using Street Drugs?
Question by Syria: How is she on the Methadone program while using street drugs?
My friend is on the methadone program but also started smoking Crank (cheap meth). Don’t they regularly drug test them, tho?
Best answer:
Answer by Nikki
All methadone clinics do drug screens on all their patients, either once every calendar month or once in a 30 day period. However, these drug screens are not always monitored so it is possible for patients to cheat by using someone else’s urine. The tests are done at random times to avoid this, but some patients just come prepared whenever they know they might fail. Depending on how organized the clinic is, it is sometimes possible to cheat at a moments notice by getting a patient who can pee “clean” to go in to the bathroom and leave a sample for the patient who is being tested to collect and hand over.
Also, one failed drug screen (or even several) does not necessarily mean that the patient will be dropped. The consequences depend on what substance they test positive for and how many times it has happened before. They can be made to attend extra group meetings or counseling session, they can lose take-home privileges (being allowed to take doses home instead of coming in every day) or they can be dropped from the program after a very brief (and harsh) detox.
So the two likely reasons for why your friend is still on methadone maintenance is that she is either cheating on her drug screens or that she hasn’t failed enough of them to be terminated from the program yet.
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