With a population of 103,301, the most populous city in California’s Butte County is Chico, which is the educational, economic, and cultural hub of the northern Sacramento Valley. Considering the many methadone clinics in California, it is no surprise that it is not difficult to find a Chico methadone clinic. Despite the availability, and despite methadone’s proven effectiveness, methadone therapy for opioid addiction is not as widely used as it should be. This is largely due to many negative opinions and misconceptions about methadone, not only in the public, but among health care professionals. The biggest misconception is that taking methadone for opioid addiction recovery is merely substituting one drug for another. This is completely untrue. Methadone is an opioid, but it works completely differently than frequently abused drugs like heroin. Methadone does not get patients “high,” but rather prevents drug cravings and withdrawal symptoms while blocking the high caused by other opioid drugs. This helps patients stay stable and abstain from drugs while they get counseling and make healthy life changes for long-term recovery success.