Methadone maintenance vs 180-day psychosocially enriched detoxification for treatment of opioid dependence: a randomized controlled trial. A randomized controlled trial of interim methadone maintenance. A randomised controlled trial of methadone maintenance treatment versus wait list control in an Australian prison system. A randomized clinical trial of methadone maintenance for prisoners: results at 1-month post-release. The Swedish methadone maintenance program: a controlled study. Dose-response effects of methadone in the treatment of opioid dependence. A randomized trial of 6-month methadone maintenance with standard or minimal counseling versus 21-day methadone detoxification. A controlled trial of methadone maintenance in a population of intravenous drug users in Bangkok: implications for prevention of HIV. Methadone treatment of randomly selected criminal addicts.
Despite evidence that methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) is effective for opioid dependence, it remains a controversial therapy because of its indefinite provision of a dependence-producing medication.
                To compare outcomes of patients with opioid dependence treated with MMT vs an alternative treatment, psychosocially enriched 180-day methadone-assisted detoxification.
                Randomized controlled trial conducted from May 1995 to April 1999.
                Research clinic in an established drug treatment service.
                Of 858 volunteers screened, 179 adults with diagnosed opioid dependence were randomized into the study; 154 completed 12 weeks of follow-up.
                Patients were randomized to MMT (n = 91), which required 2 hours of psychosocial therapy per week during the first 6 months; or detoxification (n = 88), which required 3 hours of psychosocial therapy per week, 14 education sessions, and 1 hour of cocaine group therapy, if appropriate, for 6 months, and 6 months of (nonmethadone) aftercare services.
                Treatment retention, heroin and cocaine abstinence (by self-report and monthly urinalysis), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk behaviors (Risk of AIDS Behavior scale score), and function in 5 problem areas: employment, family, psychiatric, legal, and alcohol use (Addiction Severity Index), compared by intervention group.
                Methadone maintenance therapy resulted in greater treatment retention (median, 438.5 vs 174.0 days) and lower heroin use rates than did detoxification. Cocaine use was more closely related to study dropout in detoxification than in MMT. Methadone maintenance therapy resulted in a lower rate of drug-related (mean [SD] at 12 months, 2.17 [3.88] vs 3.73 [6.86]) but not sex-related HIV risk behaviors and in a lower severity score for legal status (mean [SD] at 12 months, 0.05 [0.13] vs 0.13 [0.19]). There were no differences between groups in employment or family functioning or alcohol use. In both groups, monthly heroin use rates were 50% or greater, but days of use per month dropped markedly from baseline.
                Our results confirm the usefulness of MMT in reducing heroin use and HIV risk behaviors. Illicit opioid use continued in both groups, but frequency was reduced. Results do not provide support for diverting resources from MMT into long-term detoxification. Effective alternatives to long waiting lists for entry into methadone hydrochloride maintenance treatment are needed to reduce the complications of continuing heroin dependence and to increase methadone treatment entry.
                To compare the effectiveness of interim methadone maintenance with that of the usual waiting list condition in facilitating methadone treatment entry and reducing heroin and cocaine use and criminal behavior.
                Randomized, controlled, clinical trial using 2 conditions, with treatment assignment on a 3:2 basis to interim maintenance-waiting list control.
                A methadone treatment program in Baltimore.
                A total of 319 individuals meeting the criteria for current heroin dependence and methadone maintenance treatment.
                Participants were randomly assigned to either interim methadone maintenance, consisting of an individually determined methadone dose and emergency counseling only for up to 120 days, or referral to community-based methadone treatment programs.
                Entry into comprehensive methadone maintenance therapy at 4 months from baseline; self-reported days of heroin use, cocaine use, and criminal behavior; and number of urine drug test results positive for heroin and cocaine at the follow-up interview conducted at time of entry into comprehensive methadone treatment (or at 4 months from baseline for participants who did not enter regular treatment).
                Significantly more participants assigned to the interim methadone maintenance condition entered comprehensive methadone maintenance treatment by the 120th day from baseline (75.9%) than those assigned to the waiting list control condition (20.8%) (P<.001). Overall, in the past 30 days at follow-up, interim participants reported significantly fewer days of heroin use (P<.001), had a significant reduction in heroin-positive drug test results (P<.001), reported spending less money on drugs (P<.001), and received less illegal income (P<.02) than the waiting list participants.
                Interim methadone maintenance results in a substantial increase in the likelihood of entry into comprehensive treatment, and is an effective means of reducing heroin use and criminal behavior among opioid-dependent individuals awaiting entry into a comprehensive methadone treatment program. The aim was to determine whether methadone maintenance treatment reduced heroin use, syringe sharing and HIV or hepatitis C incidence among prisoners.
                All eligible prisoners seeking drug treatment were randomised to methadone or a waitlist control group from 1997 to 1998 and followed up after 4 months. Heroin use was measured by hair analysis and self report; drugs used and injected and syringe sharing were measured by self report. Hepatitis C and HIV incidence was measured by serology.
                Of 593 eligible prisoners, 382 (64%) were randomised to MMT (n=191) or control (n=191). 129 treated and 124 control subjects were followed up at 5 months. Heroin use was significantly lower among treated than control subjects at follow up. Treated subjects reported lower levels of drug injection and syringe sharing at follow up. There was no difference in HIV or hepatitis C incidence.
                Consideration should be given to the introduction of prison methadone programs particular where community based programs exist. Despite its effectiveness, methadone maintenance is rarely provided in American correctional facilities. This study is the first randomized clinical trial in the US to examine the effectiveness of methadone maintenance treatment provided to prisoners with pre-incarceration heroin addiction.
                A three-group randomized controlled trial was conducted between September 2003 and June 2005. Two hundred eleven Baltimore pre-release inmates who were heroin dependent during the year prior to incarceration were enrolled in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to the following: counseling only: counseling in prison, with passive referral to treatment upon release (n=70); counseling+transfer: counseling in prison with transfer to methadone maintenance treatment upon release (n=70); and counseling+methadone: methadone maintenance and counseling in prison, continued in a community-based methadone maintenance program upon release (n=71).
                Two hundred participants were located for follow-up interviews and included in the current analysis. The percentages of participants in each condition that entered community-based treatment were, respectively, counseling only 7.8%, counseling+transfer 50.0%, and counseling+methadone 68.6%, p<.05. All pairwise comparisons were statistically significant (all ps<.05). The percentage of participants in each condition that tested positive for opioids at 1-month post-release were, respectively, counseling only 62.9%, counseling+transfer 41.0%, and counseling+methadone 27.6%, p<.05, with the counseling only group significantly more likely to test positive than the counseling+methadone group.
                Methadone maintenance initiated prior to or immediately after release from prison appears to have beneficial short-term impact on community treatment entry and heroin use. This intervention may be able to fill an urgent treatment need for prisoners with heroin addiction histories. Thirty-four drug addicts, aged 20 - 24 years, with a history of 4 - 8 years of intravenous heroin abuse, were randomly assigned either to a methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) (17) or to an untreated group (17). The untreated controls could not apply for entrance to the program until two years later. It was found that after two years 12 MMT patients had abandoned their drug habits and begun work, whereas 5 had recurrent drug abuse problems. Of the controls, one was drug-free and gainfully employed, 12 were continuously abusing heroin (3 of these had incurred potentially fatal diseases in consequence), 2 were in prison and 2 had diet. Two to seven years after their first visit to the Psychiatric Research Center 8 of the original control group have been accepted into the program. At present 19 (out of 25 admitted) are gainfully employed and no longer abusing drugs. Among the remaining controls 4 are dead, 3 are in prison, one in spite of a serious heart condition abuses heroin and one is drug-free. The rehabilitation rate was thus 76 per cent in the program as compared to 6 per cent among the control group. In addition, MMT obviously reduced the high morbidity and mortality rates found in a selection of heroin addicts who fulfilled the admittance criteria of the Swedish program. To compare the dose effectiveness of low to moderate doses of methadone in a sample of a contemporary population of opioid abusers, because the optimal dosing of methadone in the treatment of opioid dependence remains an issue.
                A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.
                A methadone treatment research clinic.
                Participants (n = 247) were opioid-dependent patients with a high rate of cocaine use.
                All participants were initially treated with active methadone for a minimum of 5 weeks and then received 15 weeks of stable dosing at 50, 20, or 0 mg per day. Individual counseling and group therapy were included.
                Treatment retention and illicit drug use as determined by intensive urine monitoring.
                Retention was better for patients who remained on active medication. By treatment week 20, retention was 52.4% for the 50-mg, 41.5% for the 20-mg, and 21.0% for the 0-mg group (50 versus 0 and 20 versus 0, P < 0.05; 50 versus 20, P > 0.05). Only the 50-mg treatment group had a reduced rate of opioid-positive urine samples (56.4% versus 67.6% and 73.6% for the 20-mg and 0-mg groups, respectively; P < 0.05) and cocaine-positive urine samples (52.6% versus 62.4% and 67.1% for the 20- and 0-mg groups, respectively; P < 0.05).
                There is a dose-response effect for methadone treatment. Doses as low as 20 mg may improve retention but are inadequate for suppressing illicit drug use. Important questions remain regarding the necessary duration and intensity for methadone treatment to be effective.
                As part of a clinical trial of tuberculosis chemoprophylaxis [Batki, S.L., Gruber, V.A., Bradley, J.M., Bradley, M., Delucchi, K., 2002. A controlled trial of methadone treatment combined with directly observed isoniazid for tuberculosis prevention in injection drug users. Drug Alcohol Depend. 66 283-293. doi:10.1016/S0376-8716(01)00208-3], patients with opioid dependence were recruited from an outpatient 21-day methadone detoxification program and were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions: (1) continuation in 21-day methadone detoxification; (2) transfer to 6-month methadone maintenance with only minimal counseling; or (3) transfer to 6-month methadone maintenance with standard twice monthly counseling and as-needed social work and psychiatric services. Both the 6-month maintenance treatments were followed by 1.5 months of detoxification. Urine drug tests and self-report measures were collected at baseline, months 1-6, and month 8.5.
                Compared to 21-day methadone detoxification, 6-month methadone maintenance with either minimal or standard counseling resulted in fewer opiate positive urine tests and days of self-reported heroin and alcohol use. There was no change in cocaine use or other outcome measures. The increased counseling available in the standard counseling condition did not appear to reduce heroin use further than the minimal counseling condition, in contrast to the effect found for more structured counseling in long-term methadone maintenance (McLellan et al., 1993).
                Six months of methadone maintenance, even with minimal counseling, reduces heroin and alcohol use more than 21-day methadone detoxification. This study represents the first controlled trial of methadone maintenance and 45-day methadone detoxification in Thailand. We randomly assigned 240 male heroin addicts with at least six prior detoxification treatment episodes to 45-day detoxification or to methadone maintenance treatment conditions. We found that methadone maintenance clients were more likely to complete 45 days of treatment (p less than .00001), were less likely to have used heroin during treatment (p less than .0002), and were less likely to have used heroin on the 45th day of treatment (p less than .000007). These findings are consistent with the results of other studies in the United States, and we conclude that methadone maintenance could be a significant adjunct to AIDS prevention efforts for intravenous drug users in Thailand. nan
Methadone is an effective maintenance therapy intervention for the treatment of heroin dependence as it retains patients in treatment and decreases heroin use better than treatments that do not utilise opioid replacement therapy. It does not show a statistically significant superior effect on criminal activity or mortality.