Methadone Clinic Culture: The Everyday Realities of Female Methadone Clients

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the ways in which clinic practices create obstacles for women who seek drug treatment. On the basis of interviews and participant observation at a methadone clinic, this article uncovers issues that women negotiate with their status as methadone clients. Being a woman and being a methadone client, from a feminist perspective, interact in our society to provide various meanings for women. Accounts from female clients make visible the neglect that persists in treatment settings. Their experiences illustrate the dilemmas women face when entering a male-dominated organization. These stories comprise the everyday workings of the methadone clinic and are part of the production of subsequent clinic culture, which is embedded in the larger social world that is gendered.