Playing (Un)Dead: Interrogating Invocations of 'Monster' Metaphors in (Post-)MMT Service User Narratives of Methadone, Maintenance and Treatment

Abstract

In 2009, the Canadian Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [2] produced an anti-stigma campaign entitled Methadone Saves Lives a. Describing methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) as a 'life saving' intervention, CAMH's [2] campaign thus effectively perpetuates one of the central binary oppositions underlying MMT discourse, implicitly suggesting that illicit heroin use kills, and untreated opiate dependence inevitably leads to death [3].