Methadone is used since at least thirty years in the heroin addiction treatment in Rhode Island. The medication is still used so commonly in opioid treatment in the state and even on a federal scale that it is difficult to think that an option will ever be accepted. But, this method of treatment is already on its way out. Until now, there was nothing better than methadone for the treatment of heroin addiction in Rhode Island. But with the discovery of buprenorphine which has the same kind of effectiveness on patients with a lowered dosage that too, it can be very easily understood which the medicine of choice will be in coming years.

There are several problems associated with methadone that remove it from the qualification of the best medicine for heroin treatment. Methadone is itself an opioid that is almost as severe as heroin. The treatment method tries to kill the urge of heroin by introducing methadone into the body, but that may cause a methadone habit on the way. And this does happen; methadone withdrawal is not uncommon. Doctors have to exercise extreme care with methadone treatment in any heroin rehab in Rhode Island. They have to take care that the dosage is never overstepped and that it is reduced in a very carefully planned quantity. It should be also noted that methadone can fatally react with some other medications and hence the doctor must know what other prescription drugs the person has been taking.

Buprenorphine, on the other hand, is quite safe. Though it can create a habit too, it is quite a mild drug for addiction and can be safely used in heroin treatment, even on an outpatient basis. Most rehabs are now switching over to a complete buprenorphine treatment pattern.

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