Methadonia (2005) Movie
The term "methadonia" describes a borderland for recovering heroin addicts on methadone maintenance. Here, addicts pass their time mixing methadone with benzodiazepines ("benzos") - a class of drugs used to treat anxiety and insomnia that includes such brand-name prescriptions as Xanax, Klonopin and Valium - which enhance their high, and keep them stuck in a gray area between addiction and "straightland."
Shot over the course of 18 months in New York City's Lower East Side, METHADONIA sheds light on the inherent flaws of legal methadone treatments for heroin addiction by profiling eight addicts, in various stages of recovery and relapse, who attend the New York Center for Addiction Treatment Services (NYCATS). This facility offers group therapy and outpatient support for its clients, many of whom are former heroin addicts now on methadone maintenance.
In addition to providing details on methadone addiction, METHADONIA explores the often-insurmountable obstacles addicts face on the road to rehabilitation. As men and women dream of living drug-free lives, they often find that the "liquid handcuffs" of methadone have robbed them of the physical and emotional willpower to do so.
Subjects include: Millie, who has 28 years of drug use behind her and now counsels a group of addicts in recovery; Bill, a canny ex-teamster who has been on methadone almost 30 years; George, an aging rocker whose rehab is made more difficult by a series of personal setbacks; Mario, who stopped using heroin 45 years ago, but still can't get straight; Steve, a charismatic homeless man trying to prove that rehab is indeed possible; and Susie and Eddie, who share the most desperate reason to clean up - a child on the way.
With almost every one of these users, the "cure" to heroin often proves equally as addictive, and as hard to overcome, especially when methadone is combined with easy-to-find pills like benzos. But Millie, the group leader, proves it is possible to kick the addiction. Although she has lost two husbands, served two state prison sentences, and suffered a heart attack, Millie has been clean for nine years and is the role model for the group. She doesn't run the group like an outsider, and her tough-love approach (she won't tolerate anyone who's high or nods off during meetings) is appreciated by most of the addicts.
Bill has spent 27 of his 48 years on methadone. When he graduated from Catholic high school, he was already a dealer and a heroin addict. Then came Vietnam, psych wards, prisons and detox centers. Bill owned a gas station and drove for the Teamsters before he lost everything to pills. Today, he tries to keep his habit under control while providing an experienced voice of reason to other addicts.
George, who has a passion for rock 'n' roll, suffers from serious mood swings - it doesn't help that his ex-wife is dying of cancer - but is well-liked by the group. In addition to methadone, he takes Klonopin for anxiety, Paxil for depression, and another drug (he can't remember what) for voices he occasionally hears. George's life takes a downward turn when the apartment he shares with Jeff, a fellow addict, burns down. He ends up moving in with his ex-wife, and endures physical problems that land him in the hospital.
At 56, Jeff has been high every day of his life since age 17. Last year, he went into at least ten detoxes, but quit all of them. The fire that burned down his apartment started when Jeff ingested pills and drank beer after taking methadone, then fell asleep while smoking a cigarette.
Having endured two heart attacks from smoking crack, Susie came into the methadone program to get off Vicodin. She has also had problems with bulimia, gallstones, an enlarged spleen and hepatitis C. At 38, Susie learns she is pregnant. While her other children were taken away from her by authorities, Susie is determined to keep her new baby, although the child will be born an addict and will need to detox before leaving the hospital.
Susie's husband Eddie gets out of prison after serving time for selling drugs. Growing up, he worked for his father at the Fulton Street Fish Market. Eddie was already into hard drugs, so it didn't take long before he was living on the street, where he met Susie. After their baby girl Leah is born, Eddie and Susie fight their own methadone habits to prove they're capable of supporting her.
Having grown up on the Jersey side of the Hudson, Steve was a security guard for years and didn't start using until his mid-30s. But once he started, his habit got him fired, and he spent five years homeless. A gregarious and likable character when he's not nodding off during meetings, Steve is determined to kick his methadone habit, and even gets to the point of checking into the hospital for a final ten-day detox. But as he soon discovers, the last few days are often the hardest.
Mario stopped using heroin 45 years ago, but has struggled with pills and other drugs ever since. His wife and daughter were killed in a car accident in the 1990s. Picking up the pieces has proven hard for him, though he does show improvement after his "little secret" - he'd been taking up to a dozen benzos a day with his methadone - landed him in the hospital.
For director Michel Negroponte, METHADONIA strikes a deeply personal chord. As he explains in the film, his wife's sister was a heroin addict, and was "totally focused on the drug. Nothing else mattered, and nothing seemed capable of stopping her from using, until the overdose that killed her. So one thing I know is that heroin addiction is work. By the time addicts have needle marks running down their veins, it's become the lousiest job you can imagine, with a boss who is screaming at them from inside their own skulls, and no days off."
In addition to the Emmy®-winning "Jupiter's Wife," which also received a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1995, Michel Negroponte's directing credits include "Space Coast," "Silver Valley," "No Accident," "W.I.S.O.R." and "The Sightseer."
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