Views on Proposed Limitation of Addiciton Treatment Duration

A blog from UK on 10 June endorsed the view that it's dead wrong for government to impose limits on the duration of methadone treatment for opiate dependence. The blog is to be found at http://northerndoctor.com/2010/06/10/nutt-on-methadone-and-the-tories/. The comment below was submitted in response to this posting.

Dr. Lawson - and Prof. Nutt - are absolutely correct. It would be unprecedented and irrational to impose a time limit on medical treatment for a condition that - to date - is incurable but eminently treatable. It would be just as absurd to demand that alcoholics be urged or somehow forbidden to attend more than a given number of AA meetings. Or that diabetics be given six weeks to adapt to a rigid regimen of diet, exercise, etc. - and then be cut off from further insulin prescriptions.

We're talking about a treatment that very literally can spell the difference between life and death for those who need it. We're also talking of a treatment that yields enormous benefits to the community at large. Imposing arbitrary limits to override the judgment of doctors and needs of patients would be a catastrophe.