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Related Experiment Videos

Patterns of opiate use in a heroin maintenance programme.

T V Perneger1, A Mino, F Giner

  • 1Quality of Care Unit, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland.

Psychopharmacology
|October 21, 2000
PubMed
Summary

Heroin addicts in a Swiss program consumed about 0.5g of prescribed heroin daily. Opiate use stabilized or decreased over time, with some patients choosing alternative treatments.

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Area of Science:

  • Addiction Medicine
  • Pharmacology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Limited understanding of opiate use patterns among individuals with heroin addiction.
  • Heroin addiction poses significant public health challenges globally.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize opiate consumption trends in heroin-addicted individuals receiving prescribed intravenous heroin and oral opiates.
  • To analyze daily drug administration data to understand usage patterns over time.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of daily drug administration records from 37 patients in the Geneva heroin maintenance program.
  • Data collected over 4-29 months, totaling 23,136 patient-days.
  • Calculation of total opiate dose in heroin-equivalents, including oral opiates.

Main Results:

  • Average daily intravenous heroin dose was 466 mg; total average opiate dose (heroin-equivalents) was 543 mg.
  • Patients used intravenous heroin alone on 39% of days, oral opiates alone on 7%, and mixed regimens on 49%.
  • Initial increase in daily heroin-equivalents (30 mg/day/month) in the first trimester, followed by a gradual decrease (12 mg/day/month).

Conclusions:

  • Heroin users with facilitated access to prescribed drugs consume approximately 0.5g of heroin daily.
  • Opiate consumption patterns varied, but daily amounts remained stable or decreased over time.
  • A notable proportion of patients opted for alternative treatments (methadone maintenance, detoxification) after several months.

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