Editing Methadone (section)

=== Other countries ===
In [[Russia]], methadone treatment is illegal. In 2008, the Chief Sanitary Inspector of Russia [[Gennadiy Onishchenko]], claimed that Russian health officials were not convinced of methadone's efficacy in treating heroin and/or opioid addiction. Instead of replacement therapy and gradual reduction of illicit drug use, Russian doctors encouraged immediate cessation and withdrawal. People who use drugs were generally given [[sedative]]s and non-opioid [[analgesic]]s to cope with withdrawal symptoms.<ref>{{cite news | vauthors = Schwirtz M |title=Russia Scorns Methadone for Heroin Addiction |work=The New York Times |date=22 July 2008 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/health/22meth.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207145850/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/health/22meth.html |archive-date=7 December 2016 }}</ref> [[Brazil]]ian footballer assistant Robson Oliveira was arrested in 2019 upon arriving in Russia with methadone tablets sold legally in other countries for what was considered [[drug trafficking]] under Russian law.<ref>{{cite web | title = Caso Robson: Campanha pede justiça a ex-funcionário de Fernando preso há 562 dias na Rússia | trans-title = Robson case: Campaign calls for justice for former Fernando employee imprisoned 562 days in Russia | url = https://www.espn.com.br/futebol/artigo/_/id/7511514/caso-robson-campanha-pede-justica-a-ex-funcionario-de-fernando-preso-ha-562-dias-na-russia | work = ESPN Caso Robson | date = 30 September 2020 | language = Portuguese }}</ref>

As of 2015, China had the largest methadone maintenance treatment program with over 250,000 people in over 650 clinics in 27 provinces.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Sullivan SG, Wu Z, Rou K, Pang L, Luo W, Wang C, Cao X, Yin W, Liu E, Mi G | title = Who uses methadone services in China? Monitoring the world's largest methadone programme | journal = Addiction | volume = 110 | issue = Suppl 1 | pages = 29–39 | date = January 2015 | pmid = 25533862 | doi = 10.1111/add.12781 | doi-access = free | title-link = doi }}</ref>