MOTHER OF METHADONE

Looking into the past of addiction science and treatment to find a more empathetic future.

On the heels of a harrowing first glimpse into the world of addiction treatment during an interview for a part-time position at a methadone clinic in Arizona, Glenn searches for answers in her own medical training and scientific study. Much of what she learned in medical school about addiction and those who suffer from it was rooted in judgment and stigmas, but the clinic showed another path forward in working with addicts. While diving into the history of methadone treatment, Glenn lands on a black-and-white photo of a woman in a Journal of the American Medical Association article commemorating the 40th anniversary of methadone treatment for addiction and its chief proponent. “She was about sixty or seventy, joy radiating from her eyes. Perhaps this is what it looked like to be proud of your life’s work,” she writes. So begins a deep, compassionate exploration of the life and impact of Dr. Marie Nyswander, an American psychiatrist who studied and promoted the use of methadone in heroin addiction treatment protocols that still stand today. Glenn, engagingly blending memoir, research, and fiction, seeks a role model in Nyswander and her decades-old work. “I had always craved a female boss or mentor in medicine, but they were hard to come by,” she writes. “Why did I get the sense that I was fighting the same battles, with myself, my patients, and medicine at large, that Marie had already fought more than fifty years ago?” The author then traces the past to learn how to understand her present. Facing a deadly opiate epidemic at unprecedented scale in the history of the United States, Glenn offers a look behind the curtain into addiction science, recovery, and what might be possible.

An absorbing blend of memoir, history, and fiction that explores the story of addiction treatment for a kinder path ahead.