Where I'm from the endpoint most methadone clinics want to strive for is some sort of long-term carries. Usually it's given in stages though, you get daily monitored doses for a few months, then you get biweekly carries, then weekly, etc. Eventually it's once every month or so.
It's usually contingent on continual clean urine tests and observation of general stability. If the doctor sees you are employed gainfully, honestly trying to better yourself, and you have been compliant with therapy they usually actually prefer to have people moved to take-home doses, just to lessen the burden.
Even people on daily monitroed doses can ask to get carries in special circumstances. When there was an impending public transit strike in the city I live in, several people I knew who were on MMT were given a week's worth of carries by just asking politely.
If you are stupid enough to put yourself in a situation where you end up with no methadone for a couple days, the doctors usually are much less willing to consider giving you any doses in future.
They might replace your prescription if you could prove you were assaulted/robbed (police report) but even then, that works precisely once before it's beyond belief. The expectation is that you are given carries with the understanding that you are responsible for their security and proper usage. Some doctors will require you present some proof that you have a secure (locked) storage area for your carries, and will not provide them to people who are e.g. in a homeless shelter. I know at least one person who is honest enough with himself that he remains on daily carries. To him, there's nothing to gain from the possibility of theft or abuse. I really admire that.
Normal people don't go to the pharmacy daily.
Objectively speaking, having to make a trip to the pharmacy to get your daily dose is much less hassle than having to hustle to get $20 (by whatever means, be that theft, pity, panhandling, prostitution), then wait for a dealer to arrive, and then only get a couple hours of relief at best before you're back at it.
Going to a pharmacy once per day, having a polite chat with the pharmacist, and being given a reliable, clean, accurately measured dose of narcotics is top-tier service in comparison.
Also, despite a hazy recollection that the practice was greatly limited by some act of law, some pharmacies will even go the extra mile and
deliver the methadone to your door. I also have met clinics that will offer a service (I believe it's run by volunteers) where someone will pick you up and give you a ride to the clinic, and back home, every day.
If you want to come up with reasons to restrict opioid use, the legal record shows it's not very hard at all. But by that argument, nobody should ever be dispensed more than a single dose of opioid medication at once, either. It won't stop the desperate users, but it will make life that much more difficult for everyone using them as directed.
