I will skip how I got onto MMT (Methadone Maintanence Treatment) since that isn't the point here. The program I got on had me go to 3 day a week 3 hour a day group meetings with a counselor. Plus I got my methadone which I started at 30mg and went to 175mg. I have since come down to 145mg.
Methadone
Well-documented
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 6 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Well-documented
Multiple authoritative sources agree on dosing and effects.
- 6 corroborating sources
- 1 ROA with full dose ladder
- duration data present
- 29 combo interactions documented
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
Aliases: Mud, Dolls, Metho, Juice, Wafers
Summary
Methadone (sold under trade names such as Dolophine and Methadose) is a synthetic opioid analgesic used for the treatment of moderate to severe pain and for the treatment of opioid addiction. It is commonly used to treat and manage the symptoms of opioid addiction. The subjective effects are similar to those of other synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, however, most users note a significantly stronger euphoria.
Dose Information
| ROA | Light | Common | Strong | Heavy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 3-5mg | 5-15mg | 15-30mg | 30mg+ |
Light
Common
Strong
Heavy
Sources
Oral
Dose ladder — dose.wiki, PsychonautWiki
☠ 40 mg (opioid-naïve) oral
Could be lethal for an opioid-naïve user
“These doses are not intended for opioid-naive users. 40mg could be lethal for a naive user. Always start low and titrate slowly.” — TripSit
Onset, Duration & After-effects
| ROA | Onset | Comeup | Peak | Offset | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oral | 20-90 min | 2-4 hrs | 4-6 hrs | 4-6 hrs | 10.33-17.5 hrs |
| Intravenous | 1-5 min | 5-15 min | 2-4 hrs | 12-36 hrs | 14.1-40.33 hrs |
Opioid MME Calculator
⚠ Citation & Disclaimer:
Conversion factors sourced from the
NIH HEAL Initiative MME Calculator (Adams et al., PAIN 2025),
the CDC 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain,
and the MDCalc MME Calculator.
These are approximate equianalgesic ratios for educational reference only.
Individual responses vary significantly based on genetics, tolerance, cross-tolerance, and route of administration.
This is not medical advice. Do not use these conversions to adjust opioid dosing without professional medical guidance.
mg
2.1
mg
Methadone
≈
—
mg
Morphine
| Substance | Equivalent Dose | MME Factor |
|---|
⚠ Equianalgesic dose ratios are approximations and do not account for genetic factors, tolerance, incomplete cross-tolerance, or pharmacokinetic variations. Methadone conversion is especially variable at higher doses. Always consult a healthcare provider before making any changes to opioid therapy.
Effect Profile
105 reportsScores (0–10) curated from multiple sources:
- Effect keyword matching from PsychonautWiki catalog
- Validated against 95 Erowid trip reports
- Weighted by importance: core (×3), major (×2), minor (×1)
Opioid
8.3
Intense
8/10
Strong euphoria, pain relief, and sedation with strong itching/nausea
Euphoria / Warmth
×3
10
physical euphoria
euphoria
mood lift
Analgesia
×2
10
pain relief
analgesia
Sedation / Relaxation
×1
8
sedation
relaxation
Itching / Nausea
×1
10
nausea
constipation
dry mouth
Based on reports from:
Tolerance
Build-up
develops within days of regular use; analgesic tolerance faster than respiratory depression tolerance
Reset
Falls quickly once you stop, at a rate you can't judge. After any break, treat your tolerance as gone.
No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for opioids were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.
Opioid tolerance drops fast when you stop, and even a few days off can be enough, so a dose that used to be normal can now stop your breathing. Overdose deaths rise sharply after prison, detox or leaving treatment, and tolerance also falls during a hospital stay. After any break, start with a much smaller amount, try a test dose first, don't use alone, and keep naloxone within reach. Alcohol, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids and other sedatives make an opioid overdose much more likely.
Sources: FRANK: heroin · National Harm Reduction Coalition · WHO: opioid overdose · Merrall et al. 2010 · Binswanger et al. 2007 · Strang et al. 2003 · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing
Effects
Aggregated from 95 single-substance Erowid and 10 Bluelight experience reports; 54 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Rows resting on fewer than 20 reports show a count (“3 of 7”) instead of a bar. Why 20?
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 25
31.5% (95% interval 23 to 41 percent)
86%
27.7% (95% interval 20 to 37 percent)
91%
25.7% (95% interval 18 to 35 percent)
90%
19.0% (95% interval 13 to 28 percent)
90%
10.5% (95% interval 6 to 18 percent)
88%
10.5% (95% interval 6 to 18 percent)
–
8.4% (95% interval 4 to 16 percent)
–
6.3% (95% interval 3 to 13 percent)
–
6.3% (95% interval 3 to 13 percent)
–
5.7% (95% interval 3 to 12 percent)
78%
5 of 10
79%
2 of 10
85%
2 of 10
85%
2 of 10
92%
2 of 10
80%
1 of 10
70%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
85%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
85%
Show 5 more positive effects
1 of 10
75%
1 of 10
70%
1 of 10
90%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
70%
Adverse Effects 20
23.8% (95% interval 17 to 33 percent)
85%
20.0% (95% interval 14 to 29 percent)
85%
19.0% (95% interval 13 to 28 percent)
80%
8.4% (95% interval 4 to 16 percent)
–
6.3% (95% interval 3 to 13 percent)
–
4.2% (95% interval 2 to 10 percent)
–
4.2% (95% interval 2 to 10 percent)
–
4.2% (95% interval 2 to 10 percent)
–
3.8% (95% interval 2 to 9 percent)
80%
3.2% (95% interval 1 to 9 percent)
–
3.2% (95% interval 1 to 9 percent)
–
2 of 10
82%
2 of 10
85%
1 of 10
90%
1 of 10
75%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
75%
1 of 10
90%
1 of 10
80%
1 of 10
85%
Also reported in combinations. In the 54 Methadone reports where another drug was taken too, 9 (16.7%) mention hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 1 (1.9%) a seizure and 2 (3.7%) psychosis. In the 95 single-substance reports: 17.9%, 4.2% and 2.1%. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to Methadone alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.
Combinations
Cross-Check Methadone with another substanceThese are TripSit's opioid interactions, except the MAOI entry: TripSit rates opioids with MAOIs as Caution, but methadone's US label and the MAOI labels advise against the pair, so it is Dangerous here.
Community Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Erowid 8 reports 3 positive 2 neutral 3 cautionary visit
I began abusing drugs when I was 16, and by the time I graduated high school, I was an addict. I soon began experimenting with opiates (Percocet, etc.) and eventually found Oxycontin and then later moved on to heroin. In the end of my addiction, I was using heroin intravenously and was homeless.
Hello everyone. I am an 19 year old guy from a small town in Ontario. I was always a 'good' kid growing up, I got good grades, I was respected by my family and friends, never got into much trouble. I was introduced to drugs at age 12. I knew alot about most drugs and I hadn't even used yet.
Where to begin, I guess the best place to start is the beginning. In the beginning I was normal, well, as normal as any freshman college girl from a small town in the near college town (the city).
INTRODUCTION: My true love kicked methadone (and opiates for good) after a couple of years being a junkie. I thought it might be helpful to share his/our story of how we did it. I say we because he could do this alone.
This is meant as a documentation of how my life was directly affected by methadone/methadose. I am still not sure whether or not my decisions were the right ones but I do know that my life has been changed for the better due to the effects of methadone and due to how it changed my perception of my surroundings even whe...
I'm in no ways a regular user of opiates, opioids or any other substances, besides alcohol - I do not enjoy cannabis. I indulge in alcohol 1-2 times a week, usually by drinking the equivalent of 16-20 bottles of beer and buzzing hard as a result.
This experience took place in 1994, at that time I had had a poly substance abuse problem for 5 years. Although I indulged vigorously in various psychedelics and stimulants I had a fairly substantial heroin habit. I had maintained my addiction to heroin for 3 years with no major negative drawbacks.
Bluelight 6 threads 1 positive 3 neutral 2 cautionary visit
I've done a long lists of various opioids, but one important one was still missing, methadone. I aquired 3 pills of 20mg and 1 pill of 10mg from a friend and fellow bluelighter by trading some coke for his methadone.
So at the time of the experience I was 16. It was a weekend and I was headed to my friends house to do the usual. We're gonna call him Kyle. We would sit in his room and get baked out of our minds (and high on plenty of other things), watch trailer park boys, go out to eat, or hang out with girls.
I guess I should start with the basics. I was spending the evening with my friend S and his girlfriend J in S's motel room. J (19-years-old, 6'1", 165 lbs) S (16-years-old, 5'3", 105 lbs) Me(19-years-old, 5'7", 118 lbs) Yesterday the three of us were hoping to find some speed because J had just got some money early in...
Through My Other Mouth A Tale of Light, and a Dark, Dark, Tunnel Brought to You by Znegative So I was sitting around this Sunday morning, finishing up the last sip of my coffee, feeling lethargic as I looked hopelessly out my window.
New here just to post this. What happened: Going to make this concise and as scientific as possible to help others. I took 50 mg methadone liquid recently for my first time. I did NOT do this on purpose, as I was told the concentration was 1mg/mL but was in fact 10 mg/mL.
Methadone Trip Report 80mg (16mL) intravenous injection 10am (T=0:00) - I am dispensed my 80mg methadone dose as usual from the chemist, and since the pharmacist on duty is known to just leave one's dose on the counter and go back to business, I take the opportunity to hold in in my mouth and spit it into an empty Coke...
Pill Identifiers
13
known pill identifiers on record — view imprints, colors, shapes, and images
→
Methadone's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
→
Helpful Links
Add missing routes to PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal app already has Methadone, but its built-in entry only covers Oral. Here are the other routes we have data for. You can't edit a built-in substance, but you can add a Custom Unit for any of these routes to log it.
⬇ Download import file
Import this file as custom substances
and you get "Methadone (Substance Search)" with every
route's full dose ladder and timeline, no typing. Works on iOS and
Android (v15+); the format is confirmed by the app's
developer. The manual values below work for older
versions.
Duration (reference)
Methadone: routes the PsychonautWiki Journal app is missing Source: SubstanceSearch (substancesearch.com) Intravenous duration: onset 1-5m · come-up 5-15m · peak 2-4h · offset 12-36h · total 14.1-40.33h · after-effects 48h Note: ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription. Start low, go slow, and test your substances.
Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.
Report an issue or suggest an edit
Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Methadone? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.