Opioid substitution: improving cost–efficiency

Opioid substitution: improving cost-efficiency.

Editorials 83 The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in its 2012 World drug report estimates that 0.6% of the world's adult population – some 27 million people – are problem users of illicit drugs. 1 This represents about 10% of all people who used illicit drugs in 2011 and suggests that most people can use drugs recreationally without becoming dependent. What makes these 10% different is...

Substitution treatment for opioid addicts in Germany

BACKGROUND After a long and controversial debate methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) was first introduced in Germany in 1987. The number of patients in MMT--first low because of strict admission criteria--increased considerably since the 1990s up to some 65,000 at the end of 2006. In Germany each general practitioner (GP), who has completed an additional training in addiction medicine, is all...

How to improve Opioid Substitution Therapy implementation

Opioid dependence and substitution therapy: thymoquinone as potential novel supplement therapy for better outcome for methadone maintenance therapy substitution therapy

Methadone is widely being used for opioid substitution therapy. However, the administration of methadone to opioid dependent individual is frequently accompanied by withdrawal syndrome and chemical dependency develops. Other than that, it is also difficult to retain patients in the treatment programme making their retention rates are decreasing over time. This article is written to higlights th...

Opioid substitution therapy in resource-poor settings.

Approximately 10% of new HIV infections worldwide are attributable to injecting drug use, often of an opiate such as heroin. 1 Opioid substitution therapy supplies illicit drug users with a replacement drug, a prescribed medicine such as methadone or buprenorphine, which is usually administered orally in a supervised clinical setting. The effectiveness of this therapy is recognized in developed...