Mother of Methadone

Brings together the stories of two female doctors battling the opiod epidemic 50 years apart to reveal the origins of today''s public health crisis, and unpack lessons learned by forgotten scientists, historians, and activists Dr. Melody Glenn didn’t expect to find herself working with addiction patients when she started out in medicine. Like most physicians she’s encountered, she harbored a set of conscious and unconscious beliefs about addicts--she even sometimes resented them. Once she realized how effective harm reduction treatments like methadone could be, she set out to discover why these treatments weren’t used more broadly. This led her to Dr. Marie Nyswander. In the 1960’s, Dr. Nyswander defied the DEA and medical establishment to co-develop methadone maintenance as a treatment for heroin addiction. To do so, she risked her medical license, her career, and even jail time. Over the decades that followed, study after study confirmed that methadone and its sister drug, buprenorphine, were superior to psychosocial treatments alone. According to some addiction specialists, the discovery of methadone maintenance could be considered as monumental as the discovery of penicillin. In spite of Dr. Nyswander’s gigantic impact on the world of addiction treatment, her legacy is rarely celebrated. In <Mother of Methodone,< we see how the forces of racism, fearmongering politicians, and misinformation colluded to set us back decades in our understanding of opioids. As Dr. Glenn worked to uncover Dr. Nyswander’s story--incorporating interviews, media coverage, and historical documents--she found a guiding star in her journey through addiction medicine.

Auteur

Melody Glenn, MD

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**Brings together the stories of two doctors battling the opioid epidemic half a century apart to reveal the origins of today's public health crisis

A call to remove the stigma against addicts, addiction, and treatment providers

Dr. Melody Glenn was a burned-out emergency physician who had grown to resent the large population of opioid dependent patients passing through her ER. While working at a methadone clinic, she realized how effective harm reduction treatments could be and set out to discover why they weren’t used more broadly. That’s when she found Dr. Marie Nyswander.

In the 1960’s, Nyswander defied the DEA and medical establishment to co-develop methadone maintenance as a treatment for heroin addiction. According to some addiction specialists, its discovery could be considered as monumental as the discovery of penicillin. Yet, it still carries a stigma today.

Deftly weaving together interviews, media coverage, and historical documents, Glenn recovers Nyswander’s important legacy and reveals how the forces of racism, fearmongering politicians, and misinformation colluded to set us back decades in our understandings of opioids.

With Nyswander as her guide, Glenn also shares her journey through addiction medicine as she confronts her own personal and philosophical quandaries around bias, ambition, and saviorism in the medical field.

As the US continues to struggle with opioid and fentanyl use in communities, Mother of Methadone is a powerful reminder of the ways biases have prevented doctors from saving countless lives.