Methadone Research Paper

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Methadone and its effects on the human brain
By: Lee Langham and Kayla James

Methadone is an opioid medication. Opioid attaches the one or more of the three opioid receptor in the human body and reduces large amounts of pain. Methadone reduces withdrawal symptoms in people addicted to heroin, cocaine, or other drugs. This drug is used as a pain reliever and as part of drug addiction detoxification (removing toxic substances from the body). There are different forms methadone comes in, and it is a pill form or a liquid form, and the dose of this medicine varies. This medicine should only come from a certified pharmacy. This drug is popular because it helps people with drug addiction get off of the drug that they are using (but it takes time). …show more content…
When abused and use in a negative way it can have the same effects as heroin. The chemicals that are in heroin are in methadone. The reason it’s a legal medical drug is because the doses are control by the doctor so that the user is slowly taken off the drug they are addicted to. There is no high to methadone. Methadone starts to work after the first time it is used. The medicine works for 4-12 hours at a time. The area that this drug effects is the part of the brain where judgment and decision making is made. This means the person that has an addiction are able to decide to stop using drugs.
The neurotransmitter that methadone effects is the GABA. GABA affects dopaminergic cells. The dopaminergic cells are cells that contains dopamine. Opiates (contains opium) and opioid NTS”S ( nucleus tractus solitaries) activate the presynaptic opioid receptors on GABA neurons. This stops the release of GABA in the VTA. This stops the GABA allowing the dopaminergic neurons to go faster.
Methadone isn’t prescribed for long-term use. Doctors are careful in giving patients this powerful drug, and it’s only used for the shortest time possible. Using methadone too long can have serious health consequences such as breathing difficulties change in heart rate, sedation that leads to coma, and
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