Abstract
The area of methadone treatment is suffused with ambivalence, conflicts and entanglements of various kinds. This paper attempts to explore some of these as they are experienced by the general community, the Methadone Maintenance Unit and the compulsive drug abuser. The methadone, the linking thread around which these conflicts are mobilised, is discussed in terms of its symbolic embodiment of the overt and covert wishes, fantasies and ambivalences of these three protagonists. Awareness of these issues has implications for program and clinical management.
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Tanya Mandelberg
Both authors formerly Public Health Officers, Eastern Sydney Area Public Health Unit Previously general practitioner, Orange NSW, Australia.