The relationship between medication and recovery is a complex and potentially stage-dependent one. The addiction and mental health fields have histories that underscore the value as well as the potential side effects of medications on the recovery process. The mental health field has had, especially in recent years, a bias towards medication, including medications with severe and debilitating side effects. The addictions field has had a bias against medication, even when those medications have had overwhelming research support for their safety and efficacy, e.g., methadone.

Medication-assisted recovery is a legitimate (personally and scientifically defensible) style of recovery in spite of its continued stigmatization by the public, by some service professionals and within particular communities of recovery.  The narratives of recovering people emphasize that medication can facilitate or hinder recovery and that symptom elimination or minimization via medication, in and of itself, does not constitute recovery. The future promises more effective medications and a widening menu of alternatives and adjuncts to medication.