Mother of Methadone: A Doctor's Quest, a Forgotten History, and a Modern-Day Crisis

"An important chronicle of how stigma, inertia, and ignorance hamper our mental health system--a vital read for understanding both the history and the future of addiction care at a pivotal moment for our nation's health."--Carl Erik Fisher, MD, author of The Urge: Our Story of Addiction

Brings together the stories of two doctors battling the opioid epidemic half a century apart to reveal the origins of today's public health crisis

Dr. Melody Glenn was a burned-out emergency physician who had grown to resent the large population of opioid dependent patients passing through her ER. While working at a methadone clinic, she realized how effective harm reduction treatments could be and set out to discover why they weren't used more broadly. That's when she found Dr. Marie Nyswander.

In the 1960's, Nyswander defied the DEA and medical establishment to co-develop methadone maintenance as a treatment for heroin addiction. According to some addiction specialists, its discovery could be considered as monumental as the discovery of penicillin. Yet, it still carries a stigma today.

Deftly weaving together interviews, media coverage, and historical documents, Glenn recovers Nyswander's important legacy and reveals how the forces of racism, fearmongering politicians, and misinformation colluded to set us back decades in our understandings of opioids.

With Nyswander as her guide, Glenn also shares her journey through addiction medicine as she confronts her own personal and philosophical quandaries around bias, ambition, and saviorism in the medical field.

As the US continues to struggle with opioid and fentanyl use in communities, Mother of Methadone is a powerful reminder of the ways biases have prevented doctors from saving countless lives.

Author: Melody Glenn
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 07/22/2025
Pages: 232
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.20w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780807017760


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 05/19/2025
Booklist 06/01/2025 pg. 9
Kirkus Reviews 07/01/2025

About the Author
Melody Glenn, MD, is a practicing addiction and emergency physician and assistant professor of psychiatry and emergency medicine at The University of Arizona. Her addiction research has been published in medical journals and presented nationally.