Summary

Chapter 17 is titled “Forty-eight Hours.” A doctor from the drug dependency unit prescribed James the final dose of methadone and told him to wait at least 48 hours to come back. He made it clear James had to follow the instructions. After he went through the withdrawal from methadone, he would be ready to begin a milder medication in increasingly smaller doses to “ease me out of drug dependency completely” (222). He was warned about the withdrawal symptoms over the next two days, but was told he could not begin the other medication too soon without severe complications. James thought back over the past decade of drug dependency. He felt he had made strides since being in the “depths” of his addiction, but was ready for the next step. He knew he had made the process more difficult because he chose not to be involved...