Can methadone be used to help someone get off pain pills, how does it work if methadone is also used for pain?

Not Really: Methadone is a cheap and useful pain medication; for this reason Methadone clinics use this for drug addicts to give them their "hit" and keep them from doing illegal and destructive things to get it. Just because someone is on Methadone does not mean they are an addict; they may have legitimate need to control pain; this should not prevent the search for non-narcotic resolution to the problem.

Yes: Methadone is very cheap and very potent. It has a complicated pharmocology so an expert should be involved in prescribing it. I more or less always use Methadone to detox patients off other opioid medications. It has a long fairly stable halflife so dosed 2-3 times a day with a slow taper should prevent most withdrawal symptoms.

Not really.: Methadone is an artificial opiod. It is provided to addicts to avoid needles, overdosing with unknown purchased narcotics, etc. But, it is hihly addicitve and simply a trade off!