“Methadone Works. Stop the Interfering."

That’s the headline of a 26 July opinion piece in The Guardian, UK, written by a London physician whose practice includes many patients receiving methadone or buprenorphine maintenance. Dr. Chris Ford addressed “…the possibility of returning to the outdated and discredited policy of time-limited methadone prescribing” – a policy change stridently demanded by some UK politicians (and also proposed in a recently introduced bill in the state of Pennsylvania). Dr. Ford states, “As a doctor I use methadone and buprenorphine with many patients alongside a variety of psychosocial and other healthcare interventions. Prescribing can last for one week or it can last for 30 years – it is and should be completely patient-driven and dependent on them as individuals. An arbitrary time frame imposed on any patient's medication regime is unacceptable.”