Though there are as much as 70 substance abusers registered in the province of Lori, 16 substance abusers (all from the city of Vanadzor) are being treated in the Lori Marz Psycho-neurological Dispensary in a methadone substitution treatment program by the RA Ministry of Healthcare funded by the Global Fund.

Methadone is an artificial drug, which is used to mitigate withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings particularly for opiate users. It is consumed by drinking and not through injection, which guards against the chance of infection. Methadone improves the substance abuser's quality of life, generating a desire to provide assistance to one own's family and to society at large. Such positive effects are already apparent in some of those who have undergone this treatment.

Sargis, 34, one of the 16 patients in the methadone substitution treatment program in Lori, receives his particular dose of methadone from the dispensary every morning. Just as with all 16 of the patients, he too has Hepatitis C. Sargis has been convicted previously several times, one of which was due to his substance abuse. He talked to Hetq about opium and the effects of the methadone substitution treatment program.

How did you begin taking drugs?

Well, it so happened that my life turned out differently. I spent most of life behind bars — caught, and I've seen many things. They checked me, said I have an eye problem, and discharged me from the army. I came here [to Vanadzor]; they said you have to give $500. I said if Yerevan discharged me, why do you want money? I won't give it; I'll escape from the army. My first conviction was for that — two years and my life got complicated after that. 

Then I got out, went to Russia; they sentenced me for something else, that I stole. For 3.5 years I sat in different prisons in Russia. That's where I began to shoot up — I was 18, 19 years old. When I went; it was a room about this size; I sat all by myself there. And I used that drug to live — do you understand? So I wouldn't go crazy.

Well, it's stuff like this; talking about it like this, you can't understand it. It's tied to a person's psychology… They said, this drug is good, try it, you'll feel good. I did, felt it was good, and then whenever I could I did it. I use opium.

Have you ever used heroin? It's a drug from the same group.

Yes, I used heroin in its freebase form. In the Russian prison, I had it in a cup. The freebase form is the artificial form: they get it from poppies. They fill it with a chemical; the black becomes white; it becomes a powder. It's the same thing but stronger. It's expensive — here, real freebase heroin is [$]120,000 per gram. Methadone is $300 per gram — the powder, not what we're getting here, the one you inject.

Have you also used the widespread method of gasoline?

No, I haven't; I said, it's better I go take 20,000 AMD [about $49 USD], buy it from Yerevan, use it clean, then [ingest] that poison. I used it a lot about 3 years ago. If 4 people do 1 gram a day, I did 6 grams — for 24 people. Imagine, I gave and did six times that 20,000 in a day. It's as if your body begins to get used to it, and when you reach a certain amount, you want more, which is not your usual [as increased tolerance leads to the need to increase dosage].

Where did you get all that money from?

I don't have it. I got out, do a job, then I have money. I sell stuff. I have a lot of acquaintances; I know that you need something, so I find it, get it with my own money, and sell it to you [at a higher price]. The money I earn is clean. No, I don't sell narcotics; I buy it only for my own use. 

Did you know the complications that could result; where you aware of increasing dosage?

How could I not know? I overdosed from the heroin once — it's because of my heart that I survived. You might shoot up, feel good (thinking it's from the heroin), not feel that you're dozing off, close your eyes for a moment just sitting up like that and never wake up. You don't feel anything at that moment — you're going to the netherworld. 

What do you feel when the demand for the drug arises?

When you're really hungry, what do you feel? That too is a kind of hunger. You wake up in the morning, and until you don't do it [shoot up], you won't eat breakfast. When you've been in love, you wake up in the morning, haven't you felt that you need this person — just for her to sit with you and talk? That too is something like that. A person who takes drugs, who's been shooting up for years, women don't exist for him. He sees her just as a person and that's all. As long as the drug is affecting you, you feel that way. But once the effect wears off, then not psychologically but with your body you want it; you feel that you can't move. 

Withdrawal is when you can't sit still; in half an hour you change your position many times; lie down, smoke. You make those movements in order to weaken the pain. Like someone is wringing you — how do they wring the laundry? During withdrawal, it might be that you don't like something so you tell that person to stop; he might respond at length; and you might break your glass over his head. Your pains are so great that it has this effect over you. 

You're undergoing methadone treatment. What changes have you noticed?

You feel the same thing. They're both narcotics; the advantage of this is that you don't want to shoot up, to drink. For one gram of drugs I would go to Yerevan from here; it took 4 hours. But now I know that I'll be coming at 10 am to drink [the methadone] and move on with my normal life. I can now spend the money on my child — to buy a bicycle, a notebook, or something else. And I've decided to drink [methadone] for some time and then put an end to this too, so I can return to normal life — without narcotics. 

When you first began, didn't you try to stop?

When I first began, I couldn't. At that time you don't want to. You like it so much that you want to continue. The unpleasant part begins when you begin to feel it, when you're only thinking about the drug, that there's nothing else.

When you take drugs are you alone or with friends?

I like it when only I know about it. I don't want to take several people with me, because, first of all, why should they know, and second, why should I become the reason for him to shoot up, why? If I've fallen into this problem, why should I take someone else down with me?

You have a wife and child. How is your relationship with your family?

I have a beautiful child, a girl, who's 7 years old. My child till now [only] knows that I'm a poet. I go pick her up from school, teach her her lessons. My daughter and I make dinner together. More than once my wife has said leave it [the drugs], but she hasn't fought with me, just sat beside me and said, can't you tell, it's time to leave it. 

Do you ever think that your life could've been different?

No, I don't think like that, like why am I alive? I always think that everything will be good. If you think positively, whatever you do, it follows you in life. If you think like that, why should you be disenchanted?

What are you afraid of? For example, illness, old age, death.

No, why should I be afraid of old age — that too is sweet. Why, because there might be two more wrinkles on my face? But if a person is smart, why isn't that person's soul appreciated, his being young in spirit rather than his external appearance? I'm not afraid of illness either because I believe it's God who determines how long we'll live — it doesn't matter what life you lead. As long as you've been given is as long as you'll live — no matter your type of illness.

I'm alone now. I have a wife, a child, but I'm alone. There's no one beside me who can understand me. I have no friends with whom I can talk. My friends are no longer by my side. They're gone, they died.

There's no one with whom I can talk if something is bothering me; I have no wings, no back. What does it mean to be alone? There are many people who have everything, yachts, airplanes, houses, but they have no one close to them by their side. 

When did you begin to feel this loneliness?

I've felt this since I was 12 years old, when I decided to live alone, not to depend on anyone. That's why I went through so much.