If your pharmacist seems to take ages to dispense your methadone and even serves other people while you are waiting, it isn't necessarily because s/he hates you and thinks that you deserve to suffer. 11 is probably because:

· They make up prescriptions in the order they are given in. Quite often people drop off a prescription and go and do their shopping; so just because the shop is empty it doesn't mean the pharmacist isn't busy!

· Methadone is a 'controlled drug' so there are strict regulations about how it should be measured out, recorded and dispensed. One thing that does take time is the filling in of the 'controlled drugs register' which has to be done at the time the prescription is handed out.

· Sometimes they mix up batches from the different ingredients themselves - which can take quite a while to do.

There are things you can do to make sure that you can pick up your methadone when you need it:

Get the agency writing your script to recommend a sympathetic, local pharmacist who stocks methadone (as not all do) and, if possible, to introduce you personally. If they can't do this then someone should ring the pharmacy to tell them to expect you.

Pick up your own methadone. If you do want I to pi( k it up ask I he pharmacist (who is entitled to say no) and introduce them to [lie person who will collect it. If that seems like a pain in (he neck imagine how you'd feel if you turned up for your methadone to find it had been stolen by someone who had said they were collecting it for you ...

Write down the opening hours of your pharmacy in the space at the back of this book or somewhere else where you won't lose them. If they've closed when you arrive for your script there is nothing that can be done ...

Agree with your pharmacist a time for collecting your methadone that is convenient for you both; then they can have it ready for you to collect without a wait.

Carry some ID with you when you pick up your methadone in case your pharmacist is having a day off.