MFurrevig

I am on methadone and I have not used in years. I have always been very compliant with the clinic. As a fluke for the holidays, one counselor decided to give breathalyzer tests to random patients. I blew a .08. I drank the night before. I drank a lot the night before (wine), but I could not believe it was a .08. They took my weekly bottles away. 2 weeks went by. Monday morning came around. I drank the night before and I blew a .02.

My dose is 28. They are telling me that if I fail the breathalyzer ONE MORE TIME, they will do a rapid detox of 10 MG / week.

My questions:

Is that legal? Can they legally do that?
Does alcohol ever come up in urine tests?
Can anyone recommend a personal breathalyzer?

Although I do not drink every day, I really enjoy drinking and I am always safe about it. I never drink and drive. The fact that they are saying I cannot drink AT ALL stresses me out and makes me want to drink!

Has anyone had similar situations?

MFurrevig

By the way, I started going to AA meetings and I am trying hard to be sober. As you all know, this is not easy. What I am worried about is IF I slip and have a drink. I am NOT trying to "beat the system" or anything like that. I think that it is important that I let the people on the forum know this.

Marcus

Based on past experience with clinics and stories from other addicts going to clinics it is very hard to win an argument with a clinic let alone a "legal" battle. I am sure it is in their rules that they can detox you for any number of reasons and failing drug tests and/or breathalyzers is probably pretty high up on the list. What they say usually goes because what are you going to do spend a bunch of money and take them to court? By the time the case gets anywhere you will either be detoxed already or at another clinic. They could probably be even more aggressive than 10 mg a week, but you are at a very low dose so it would obviously be a big difference for you.

They can test for alcohol in a urine screen, but I kind of doubt they do. I actually haven't seen many clinics give breathalyzers unless the person is obviously impaired though so maybe your clinic does.

I guess all I can say is if drinking really is that important to you then might be time to find another clinic. If you did have more take homes then just don't drink the day before you are going in, but sounds like you lost your take home privileges. Personally I would be questioning myself why drinking is so important and try to make not drinking a priority. I am not trying to lecture you though so if you are going to drink and do fail another breathalyzer the clinic is well within their rights to detox you. Clinics don't like losing money however so they might just keep giving you warnings who knows. Good Luck!!!

MFurrevig

Marcus,

You a correct. Drinking is not important to me. I do want to stop. I am an addict. That is why I am on the methadone clinic in the first place. I cut off any and all connections to getting illegal drugs or illegal prescriptions. I have no desire to do heroin, cocaine, or anything else. Alcohol, on the other hand, is everywhere. It's also legal. Almost every single street has a liquor store somewhere. I have never had any legal issues with drinking an it has not affected anything in my life except for now. My worries are as follows:
1) Slipping and having a drink. Since alcohol is so easily accessible and legal, I do not know if I can control myself and be completely dry for the rest of my life (or for as long as I am on methadone). I may not even getting drunk, but still breathe a positive result. Now that I am not supposed to drink, the urge to drink has increased.
2) False positives. I have played with breathalyzers and I blew a .08 and it was 12 hours since my last drink (although I drank A LOT the night before).

I am sure there are addicts who got over the hard drugs but are still struggling with alcohol. Please let me know your story.

Since I am on 28 and have been on methadone for almost a decade. What would the withdrawal be like?

Trappqueen

i have i kno this post is years old but are you still on here and what happened? Im going thru the same thing