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

Physician Glenn melds memoir, history, and “speculative nonfiction” in this artful debut on addiction treatment. In order to become board-certified in addiction medicine, Glenn applied in 2020 to work at a methadone clinic in Arizona. There, she discovered the work of Marie Nyswander, who copublished a study in 1965 proving that “daily methadone could treat heroin addiction, relieving cravings and allowing people with addiction to return to stable lives.” Due to the cultural stigma against addiction at the time, which held that it was evidence of either moral weakness or mental illness, Nyswander’s findings were not implemented. Glenn’s curiosity about Nyswander sparked a diligent research endeavor into her life, which Glenn describes alongside her own experiences at the clinic, where she saw “gaps in addiction care” that led her to imagine “a world in which methadone could be prescribed by any provider and picked up at any pharmacy.” Glenn outlines how attempts to carry out such a plan are stalled in the face of an opioid crisis that “is exponentially worse than anything Dr. Nyswander could have imagined.” Along the way, she convincingly articulates the case for a harm reduction approach to addiction, which includes such initiatives as overdose-prevention centers and access to clean needles. The result is an equal parts informative and empathetic study of a pressing issue. Agent: Ayla Zuraw-Friedland, Frances Goldin Literary. (July)