Methadone is keeping addicts in Goa away from drugs

A few heads turn as Samira enters the North Goa District Hospital in Peddem, Mapusa. Despite a slight limp, her eye-catching flower-print blouse sets her apart from the others seeking treatment at the hospital – she knows how to carry herself.

Samira* walks towards the lift, aware of the looks, and on reaching the second floor, walks to the dispensary of the Addiction Treatment Facility (ATF) of the hospital. After a brief interaction with the nurse, she swallows something handed over to her in a container and is gone.

“Methadone keeps me going. Since I have been taking it, the craving for brown sugar (an impure form of heroin) has gone. I do not need it anymore and am slowly getting back my life,” says Samira, as she sips her tea in the confines of a teashop.

At 34, Samira is the picture of serenity and decorum. “I messed it up. When on drugs, I was fooled by men who just wanted to use my body. It hurt, and I started drinking. That led to smoking until I found myself hooked to smack and other hard drugs,” recollects the lady now trying to recover her foothold in society.

“I tried to get out of heroin [addiction], but whenever I did, I slipped back again until I was told about this methadone treatment. Life has been good since then. The climb is hard, and the hardest part is to be able to believe men,” says Samira.

“I had a fall and hence the limp,” she explains.

Prakash* walks to the ATF dispensary gaily, looking around and smiling as he approaches the ATF dispensary for his dose of methadone. “I come here every three days,” he says as he happily walks down the stairs.

“I feel good after I take the dose. I don’t feel the need to inject (brown sugar) after I take my dose. I go back home and smoke a few joints and life is cool. The need to inject goes with this medicine for three days, and it is then that I return,” admits Prakash.

Prakash is one of those who believe he has seen the dregs of life through drugs and considers himself lucky to have gone to jail after being arrested.

“It was when in jail that I was put in rehab. There I came to know about methadone. It is cool, man. Because it at least keeps me away from the drug peddlers and the bottle,” he admits.

“Before starting to take this medicine, I used to end up drinking a bottle of booze a day and end up at the dealers, robbing and fighting. I used to spend a minimum of Rs 1500 for smack (heroin) to inject. I don’t do that anymore,” he states with contentment.

“My friend needs to come every day for his dose. I cannot explain why, but the effect of my dose lasts me three days while his for only a day,” says Prakash, manoeuvring his friend along.

“He (Prakash) has been my good support. We meet when we can, especially when I need to smoke a joint. He always helps,” says Prakash’s friend.

Prakash’s friend is young and is looking for a job. “I used to work in hospitality before, but I used to miss work a lot and lost my job. I used to pass out after injecting myself,” he admits as he expresses his desire to get back into society.

“Patients brought to the hospital by police are normally kept in the police ward or sometimes directly sent to the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB) in Bambolim,” discloses Priyanka Sahasrabhojanee, Medical Officer of ATF.

The methadone that is being administered under supervision to Samira, Prakash and the sixty-odd individuals who visit the facility is surely seeing smiles on faces that once saw little light at the end of the tunnel.

And, it could be that their story will draw more people to try the dose and stay away from drugs.

(*Names changed on request)