I have read all of the methadone stories and I guess my story is really no different from any of the others but here goes.

I have been on methadone for twenty years, however most of that time was spent using. I started using drugs when I was thirteen years old. I started with pot and eventually got to my drug of choice--Heroin. I lived in a neighborhood where many of my friends were doctor's son's and this was in the early seventies and all we had to do was go into there black bag or closet for Dilaudid, Demerol, Morphine, etc.

I first tried Heroin at about age sixteen. Of corse, I knew I had found my true love. I didn't become a full blown addict until my early twenties. Not long thereafter I was introduced to Meth veryone who was on the clinic still used drugs and it wasn't until the mid nineties that dirty urines were even a reason to be kicked off the program. So of corse we used all the time. When urines became an issue we just came up with ways to beat them.

Anyway through all these years I have been in many hospitals for detox or overdose or Hepatitis B and C. I've had many close calls with death and of course, been arrested (busting scripts) and on probation. Through all this I still was using and on methadone.

Finally when I was almost forty years old I moved from the town where I grew up and knew all the wrong people. I made a conscious effort when I moved to not get to know any of the people at the new clinic. So far I have been clean for two years and currently have six day pick ups.

My husband is also on the program and together we pay $500.00 monthly just for our medication. How are we suppose to start saving money and catch up to where we should be at this point in our lives paying this fee? It's still much cheaper than using but it's obsurd. I hope soon the day comes when a physician can prescribe methadone and you can go to the local pharmacy once a month.

I am very grateful to have a meth clinic because without it I would not be able to function. I have tried detox over the years and never made it more than three months. I truely believe there are some of us who are born with somekind of deficiency, similar to a diabetic having to take insulin we must have narcotics to function like a normal person.