Temporal changes of smoking status and motivation among Chinese heroin-dependent, methadone-maintained smokers

The rates of cigarette smoking remain extremely high in active heroin users and methadone-maintained patients. It remains undetermined whether smoking status and motivation would be differentially affected by heroin and methadone administration.

Heroin-dependent, methadone-maintained patients were recruited in the present studies. A battery of self-report questionnaires was used in the current study, in order to assess smoking status and motivations before first heroin use, during active heroin use and after Methadone Maintenance Treatment (MMT) admission.

An extremely high portion of participants started smoking before first heroin use. The highest level of cigarette smoking was found during the period of active heroin use, and cigarette consumption was reported to decrease after MMT admission. A wide range of smoking motivations were found before first heroin use. Moreover, "maintaining heroin pleasure" was the primary motivation for the increase in cigarette consumption during the period of active heroin use and 1h after heroin administration, while "habitual smoking" was the primary smoking motivation before first heroin use and after MMT admission respectively.

The present study first demonstrated that the prolonged rewarding effect of heroin following cigarette smoking may account for the increase of nicotine consumption found in the heroin-dependent patients. It appears that heroin and methadone differentially influenced smoking status and motivation among heroin-dependent, methadone-maintained patients.